Monday, March 11, 2013

Ouch!

I gotta admit that I have an innate ability to do clumsy things.  One of those things I am particularity gifted at is stumbling.  This usually happens on a cold evening when I am walking in the dark and hit my toe on a hard object causing the maximum amount of pain.  OUCH!

Some things make us stumble.  This can apply to our physical clumsiness and our spiritual clumsiness.  Paul describes this in several places when he talks about how we (and people in general) stumble over things that essentially keep us from knowing God.  In 1 Corinthians 1 he writes: "For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength." [v: 22-25 NRSV].  As I read these words I think over the many discussions I have had in my years of ministry.  I have talked with the scientist who needs proof of everything ... but how do you prove the existence of love?  I have pondered questions of the faith with philosophers ... but how do you describe faith since faith is unseen?

Michael Card puts it in an interesting way in the song, God's Own Fool ...

So come lose your life for a carpenter's son
For a madman who died for a dream
And you'll have the faith His first followers had
And you'll feel the weight of the beam
So surrender the hunger to say you must know
Have the courage to say I believe
For the power of paradox opens your eyes
And blinds those who say they can see

What do you think?

Pastor Randy


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