I Wish I had Known earlier...

Luke 2: 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in full stature,.

It is a short verse. An exercise in stating the obvious until one stops and and considers we are talking about Jesus, God incarnate. Granted there is mystery here, but it is safe to assume Jesus was not born in full stature (that would be a miracle of another kind.). Like any other human being, if we stand by the tradition. Jesus, God incanrate, the second person of the Trinity was born as an infant and over time grew in size. But what did it mean for Jesus, to grow in wisdom. Was Jesus wiser at the age of 30 than he was at the age of 5?  This verse would say yes? And what did that require? Did others teach him how to read and write, a privileged asset in the first century? . If Jesus competed in a spelling bee at a young age did he always win? Who were his teachers? And who taught him the required lessons of life, manners, traditions, laws and even his mission. The bible itself is silent on these issues and we only conjecture..

Yesterday, I had my annual medical physical. To start my doctor asked me how I was doing, and I responded, at acertain age the answer to that question becomes relative. To my knowledge I am in good health but ... (As a side if Jesus did not go the way of the cross would he have become physically diminished with age and eventually died a "natural" death).

Again what I do know my body is no longer 18 years old. There is no mystery here about what happened. But once we reach a certain age I suspect we have all asked at some point the question,” if I had a choice to go back in time and have a younger body but the price would be I would have to give the knowledge and experience of of my years to date would I choose to rewind. My response would be no.  Perhaps a silly proposition.

But if I could go bock in time I would want to inform my younger self a few lessons I have learned along the way.

Some of what follows are my own experiential observations, some truisms I have borrowed from others and they are lodged in my memory, unfortunately, loss of memory is also part of the aging process but where I remember the source I include it.

When I was younger, I wish I had known…

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The Bible is not an answer book. Invariably we find some answers but that is not its role. It is not looking for agreement rather it is looking for transformation. It delights in getting under your skin and on occasion ringing your bell. The best metaphor I have heard describing the working of scripture is as a compost pile. It contains privileged raw organic stories of saints and charlatans. And as later Christ followers sow their storied lives into its pages they too in time become part of the living compost for others to join. (Walter Brueggemann)

I wish I had known earlier...

the difference between the priestly and prophetic writings of Scripture and the oft time tango dance between the two.

I wish I had known earlier...

that the older you become the faster time speeds up. That is not a good thing if you are a licensed procrastinator.

I wish I had known earlier...

Generally, my elders were and are smarter than I am. There is no shortcut to experience and no way of quantifying it importance.

I wish I had known earlier...

Doubt is closer to a virtue than a vice and certitude is closer to a vice than a virtue.

I wish I had known earlier...

Evangelism is ultimately God’s problem not mine. Let you life shine, says the Bible. How God uses that is his mystery.

I wish I had known earlier...

"In the church every adult whether single or married is called to be a parent. All Christians have a parental responsibility because of baptism. Biology does not make parents in the church. Baptism does.  Baptism makes all adult Christians parents and gives them the obligation to help introduce these children to the Gospel.”  (Stanley Hauerwas). Perhaps it would be better in the church to suspend Mother and Father’s Day and celebrate family day.

I wish I had known earlier...

The home of the stranger, or in biblical terms the alien, the person who does not fit our clan, or tribe and is most unlike us, is likely where we find Jesus.

I wish I had known earlier...

The healing power of lament and that God welcomes an honest lament as a place to process our questions, hurts, and anger even when he is the subject of the complaint

I wish I had known earlier...

Walking is the oldest form of spirituality in the Bible. (Genesis 5:22) Progress forward putting one foot in front of the other and never having both feet off the ground at the same time. One foot on the ground – one foot loose in the air – pun intended

I wish I had known earlier...

Good liturgy was made for humanity – humanity was not made for liturgy.

I wish I had known earlier...

that God has a sense of humor. Annie Dillard helps me here. “In 2000 years, we have not worked out the kinks. We positively glorify them. Week after week we witness the same miracle: that God is so mighty he can stifle his own laughter: that God, for reasons unfathomable, refrains from blowing our dancing bear act to smithereens. Week after week Christ washes the disciples’ dirty feet handles their very toes and repeats, “It is all right – believe it or not to be people. Who can believe it?”

I wish I had known earlier...

That not every life event has a reason. (Kate Bowler)

I wish I had known earlier...

That the great divide in humanity is not between liberal and conservative it is between mean and non-mean (Anne Lamott)

I wish I had known earlier...

The concept of thin religiosity. Thin religion isn’t textured. It doesn’t have depth. It doesn’t have relief. It doesn’t rely on the long history of that religion with all the varieties of reflection that have gone on in the religion. Abraham Heschel, and Miroslav Volf.

I wish I had begun reading earlier

sacred Jewish literature and philosophy.

I wish I had known earlier...

"You don’t have to sit outside in the dark. If however, you want to look at the stars you will find that darkness is necessary." Barbara Taylor Brown

I wish I had known earlier...

it is impossible to see the face of God in other people if you cannot see the faces they already have. (Emmanuel Levinas)

I wish I had known earlier...

the practice of reading the white letters of Scripture. In Hebrew culture it means reading between the lines. (see Midrash and Targum)

I wish I had known earlier...

Faith is the conviction that the worst thing is never the last thing (Frederick Buechner) In theology one needs to keep on talking less someone believe your last word.  (Douglas John Hall). Or my modified version, In theology we must keep walking or we might mistakenly think we have suddenly arrived.

I wish I had known earlier...

the need to read outside my tradition and field of study i.e., novels, philosophy history and so forth and discover that what we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder. "Indifference to the sublime wonder of living is the root of sin." Abraham Heschel

I wish I had known earlier...

that Reason does not have a monopoly on finding truth. The Spirit blows where the Spirit blows.

I wish I had known earlier...

God neither gives up on us in this life or the life to come. Rapture theology is terrorist theology, a false doctrine intended to scare the hell out of people by leaving them in constant fear in this life.

I wish I had known earlier...

While I am made in the image of God, I need to make room in my life for those not made in my image.  Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

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But here is the other truth which is a truth harder to accept. The younger me could not have supported these truths even if he was told them. He/I did not have the moral, spiritual stamina or backbone to support most of these observations. .

In our house next to Olive and I the oldest thing in our house is a plant we purchased probably 45 years ago.. I do not know what kind of plant it is but it has lived in numerous pots, at least 9 homes, and three provinces. It has lived through the raising of one daughter and two dogs. And it has never seen a cat.

You may be thinking it does not look that old or that it must grow very slowly.

The fact is the plant periodically must reinvent itself with a little help from us. In time it will grow too big to handle, and we have to support the stem to carry the weight of the large green leaves. And eventually it will become too big even for its supports and the ceiling which overshadows it.  When that happens, we will cut a leaf or two and put them in a large jar of water and wait patiently for roots to appear. When the roots are long enough, we plant them into new soil and a new pot and the process beings again.

Here is my point. At a certain point to grow in wisdom means leaving parts of ourselves behind even though the DNA of ourself remains unchanged. When does that happen? For me, it happens when I m no longer able to sustain my theological reference points and then I find myself having to trust once again the hands of the creator.