Show Me Slowly What I Only Know the Limits of

 

"The discernment of Psalms 77:10, anguished as it is, admits of more than one reading. If one is linked to a flat, one-dimensional faith, then this verse is a bitter loss of faith. But if we think in terms of obedience on its way to risky imagination, then this verse is an opening for new faith beyond the conventions and routines that secure but do not reckon with God's awefulness,   This verse stands at the very risky and dangerous place where evangelical faith often stands. And indeed must stand. And as we stand there, we never know in advance if we face loss of faith or opening for new faith. The dramatic substance of v. 10 leaves the issue quite unresolved. And we must not rush past that dramatic moment in this speech-pilgrimage."

― Walter Brueggemann, "Virus as a Summons to Faith: Biblical Reflections in a Time of Loss, Grief, and Uncertainty"

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"So what do the Antioch Jesus-followers say? They do not say either ‘This must be a sign that the Lord is coming back soon!’ or ‘This must mean that we have sinned and need to repent’ – or even ‘this will give us a great opportunity to tell the wider world that everyone has sinned and needs to repent’. Nor do they start a blame-game, looking around at the civic authorities in Syria, or the wider region, or even the Roman empire, to see whose ill-treatment of the eco-system, or whose tampering with food distribution networks, might have contributed to this dangerous situation. They ask three simple questions: Who is going to be at special risk when this happens? What can we do to help? And who shall we send?"

― N.T. Wright, "God and the Pandemic: A Christian Reflection on the Coronavirus and Its Aftermath"

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"As we contemplate the coming months, not knowing when we can breathe again, it’s worth thinking about how already the foundations have been laid for whatever new opportunities God has for us on the far side of this crisis."

― Rowan Williams, "Candles in the Dark: Faith, Hope and Love in a Time of Pandemic"

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Dear Kate,

After these three quotes above from my "daddies," I really don't know why I need to write anything more.

I am going to tell a joke then.

The joke goes like this, funny probably only to the teller, mind you: At the beginning of this pandemic, I was thinking about these three men, that for sure they will write something about it, and without a doubt a book or two, probably before noon on the day the thought first emerged in me, and Brueggemann's will strike out like a lightning before you can hear his thunder, Wright's shortly after as a rendition of his grand orchestral themes, and Williams'....?

It will be something that is beyond the limits of me, which is to say I don't know the possibility of a new frontier until Williams the Prophet, the Revealer, the Man Who Waits on God speaks it into existence.  He will "show me slowly what I only know the limits of" and "dance me to the end of love."  That's actually what I was singing to myself when I first thought about his book that is to come.

So Brueggemann's book came out in April, Wright's in June, Williams' going to in December.

Maybe it is an oversimplified categorizing, an altogether unnecessary mind frame, but let me indulge in my silliness and say Brueggemann, an Old Testament scholar, speaks with a thundering desert voice from the past, Wright, a New Testament scholar, ministers to our present, where heaven meets earth, and Williams, the visionary poet, master theologian, gently guides us to the outer limits of our imagination.  (All of them actually do all three.  Again, I am being silly.  It's Black Friday and the world goes crazy.)

So what's new this week?  "Elon Musk overtakes Bill Gates to become world's second richest person."  In Werner Herzog's documentary "Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, " Musk confessed he doesn’t remember his good dreams, only the nightmares.  Fear of his own limits is what's driving him everyday to the outer space, which is marked with an X, an unknown.

That kinda sucks.

Yours, Alex