Some of the most influential and shaping things I have heard were not from well-known speakers on stages or platforms, but from passing comments made by unknown prophets - folks full of humble wisdom.
It always seems to be the most unexpected moments and words that stick in your mind, resurfacing in at unlikeliest times, challenging you to reframe your perspective and move forward with a different understanding, perhaps a broader understanding that allows you more freedom to move and breathe and believe.
I've found that happening to me, continually my worldview is challenged, my opinions shift, even if ever so slightly. These movements in a new direction are gradual, until one day someone tells you how much you have changed, and you pause to revisit all the moments that carried you this new way.
We all know life's a journey, there are however many thousands of inspirational quotes and pretty Pinterest-worthy text-images about life being about the adventure, the journey along the way, not the destination. It's a nice thought, that I wonder how many of us actually believe.
I think faith is like that. That journey-thing.
People talk about how faith is just about the journey, not the final destination. But behind that quotable statement, the person behind the curtain is still trying to figure it all out, still trying to find all the answers, still trying to KNOW.
But what if we can't know? What if God is unfathomable and the journey of faith is finding that you can never really understand, that there is nothing concrete to discover, and that all the things you think you know are part of a vast mystery? What if that is the beauty of God, that He cannot really be known?
“The argument is made that naming God is never really naming God
but only naming our understanding of God.
To take our ideas of the divine and hold them as if they correspond
to the reality of God is thus to construct a conceptual idol
built from the materials of our mind,"
says author and philosopher, Peter Rollins.
What if God is a mystery and faith isn't about knowing more the older you get, but knowing less? What if wisdom isn't about possessing more knowledge, but developing the humility to acknowledge you don't know?
This was the idea presented to me through an offhand comment made by the husband of someone I know through mutual friends and the beauty of Denver's network of servant-hearted, Jesus-loving folks.
It's so clear, sitting at a round table at a fundraiser. We were towards the back, a table half-filled with people, but full of depth in conversation. I don't remember his name, and I have no recollection of what our conversation was about, or what brought us to the topic of our journeys with Jesus. But I remember what he said.
He said when he was younger he thought his faith was all about knowing more about God, and expected that as he grew older he would eventually know everything. "But the older I've gotten, the more I see how little I know, and the more God is a mystery to me."
How beautiful. This being a child, simply in awe of the love and beauty of the Father/Motherliness of God and not feel the need to know everything to be safe in His love.
God is with us. He is not for, He is not again, He is with. Can we allow that to be enough?
He is unfathomable, He is not completely knowable. But like Mr. Beaver tells Lucy in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, "‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
And again later, "“He'll be coming and going" he had said. "One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.”
He's a mystery,
This wild, untamable God.
He's safe,
This sacrificial, surrendering Lord.
He's calling,
This mother waiting to hold her child.
He's faithful,
This running, open-armed Father.
He's near,
This heartbroken, Friend.
He's scary,
This unknown, unfathomable Spirit.
He's good,
This merciful, steadfast King.
He's kind,
This God who sees and knows.
He's a refuge,
This Spirit with sheltering wings.
He's everywhere,
This God whose name is Love.
He's a mystery,
This God inviting you to simply abide.
(Original poetry by Katy Owens)
Will you let go? Surrender to the mystery? It may be the only way we can ever "know" this crazy, loving, mystery of a God.
• • • • • • • • • •
“Here God is not approached as an object that we must love,
but as a mystery present in the very act of love itself.” - Peter Rollins
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