Table of Contents | INNS ALONG THE WAY: "The Family Room" Whenever I try to express the meaning of my faith, I find that the task is one that has changed quite radically over the years. The movement has been from the fundamentalism of early life to the biblicism of late youth and early college days to a Christo-centrism in my middle years to the cosmo-centric perspective of my older adult years to a theo-centric view of my late years to the restless dissatisfaction of a seeker now. But the most significant point is that it has been journeying. In fact, the phrase "on a sacred journey" describes my vision of my pilgrimage. I have moved from an eschatological perspective to a geographical one. There was a time when I believed that my Christian experience was just traveling to "Beulah land." The objective was to arrive at a holy destination called "heaven." Now, I see my trek as simply an exciting and fulfilling journey. Whatever destination is at the end is up to God's graciousness. It's kin to what the Germans call "wanderlust." The trek is my faith! It is insightful to describe what has stood at the heart of my commitment at varying times in my pilgrimage. Early in life the center of my faith was "the Book." I wanted to know what was there so that I could live by the rules and constraints that I was told constituted a genuine faith. So I scrutinized scripture to find what guidance I could from the rule book. Later, when this perspective was called into question under the assault of modern science, psychology and biblical scholarship, I came to see that Jesus was the center of faith. On occasion, someone is offended when I say that Jesus is the center of my faith, not the Bible. They hear this as choice, not emphasis. You choose one or the other. But I choose both. You see, even though Jesus is the center, what I know about this one comes to me through the Bible primarily. So I choose the Bible because it is "the way" to Jesus. Study of scripture is important, yes even essential and crucial. However, I choose to move beyond it, without abandoning it, to the center of my faith, namely, Jesus. Such a stance is important because one is the way of legalism and fundamentalism and becoming like a book. If the Bible is the center of my faith then my way of doing faith is rooted in seeking the rules, examining the various injunctions found in scripture and living by them blindly and uncritically. This means that ethics is a matter of obedience. Earlier in my life, I noted those who weren't obeying the rules and was critical of them. The image of one who lives in this fashion is a judge. With the other emphasis, the questions are quite different. I am eager to examine scriptures, particularly the gospels, to find out what kind of person Jesus was, how he lived, what he valued, who were his friends, what he expected from those who were his disciples and followers and what kind of relationship he had with God, others and the world. And the more seriously I take this exploration, the more astounded I am by the gracious way he lived and died. My only response is gratitude that this one is in my life. As I continue to learn about this one, I have come to believe that life is richer when lived as a disciple of Jesus, that grace is at the heart of life and that he is out ahead calling me on to a life of splendor. Ethics, for this way of living, is a matter of gratitude for the fact that God has given me life. Because God has "graced" me then I seek to pass on "that story." I yearn to serve and love the full range of people because Jesus served and loved all sorts of people and expects me to do the same. Because this way of living and behaving is rooted in loyalty to a person then the image of such a follower is of one who is growing in the image of a person, even Jesus. So, for me, I look to Jesus as a model of faith and I seek to be open to light from any source. I still believe that the Ten Commandments offer help to us as guides for living, not as requirements for slavish submission to be posted in a courthouse rotunda. Still, I keep "the good Book" close by! Then I look up from my fresh venture of exploration and, lo and behold, there is Jesus out ahead waiting for me and luring me on! |