Grace and Peace to you in the name of Jesus the Christ!
I thought that for this month, I鈥檇 switch things up a bit and share with y鈥檃ll something fun that we鈥檙e doing both in campus ministry and in my Introduction to Theology class. As a big proponent of 鈥渨orking smarter, not harder,鈥 I love it when two of my work areas converge and share major themes.
This time, that shared theme is all about ownership of our own faith.
In the Bible study that I鈥檝e been leading, 鈥淲ondering with Wes,鈥 we鈥檝e been working slowly and methodically through the Gospel of Mark. When I say slowly, I mean we have met three times for 90 minutes each time, and we鈥檙e still in the first chapter! It鈥檚 been a joy to walk through each word and nuance of the beginning of this Gospel, sharing with our students some of the truths and complexities embedded in the text. When we (finally!) made it to the call of the first disciples, we stopped to chat about how we, too, have the opportunity to own our faith for ourselves and not have to sit in the boats of our parents鈥 understanding of faith, our community of origin鈥檚 understanding of faith, or even our denomination of origin鈥檚 understanding of faith. Instead, we can leave the nets in the boat with the hired hands, follow Jesus, and decide for ourselves how our beliefs and understanding of God do/do not take similar forms. We celebrated that we never really leave our past fully behind us鈥攁fter Jesus died, Peter and the disciples go fishing, because fishing is what they know!鈥攂ut we can make our own informed decisions about our faith and own it for ourselves.
In my intro class, we鈥檝e been asking hard questions about where we draw the line between historical facts and faith truths. For example, do we have to believe in a literal six-day creation for our faith to be valid, or can the story be seen as a cosmological poem about creation springing forth from the love and joy of a God who delights in creating? Did Jonah really get swallowed by a giant fish, or is this book a long-form parable about the depths of God鈥檚 grace and humanity鈥檚 inability to live into it? These are only a few examples鈥攖here are many such in the Bible. The bigger question is, do distinctions such as these change anything in our understanding of the unfolding salvation story of God?
I have thoroughly enjoyed walking alongside these students as they wrestle with questions like these, and celebrating that moment when they make decisions for themselves about where they draw the line, what they choose to believe, and how those decisions impact their understanding of the work of God in the world.
Taking ownership of our faith is an important step in moving from adolescence to adulthood, and I get to see our 国产探花 students do it each semester!
So, what about you? How have you lived into God鈥檚 call to test for yourself what you believe? How do you articulate your own ownership of your faith? We鈥檇 love to hear you share your story with us!