My congregation definitely has the “Mary Scaries” too. I found a way of angling into that mystery through the life of David. In Bonhoeffer’s lecture on King David he points out that scripture says Jesus is both the “root of David” and the “branch of David.” So, he says, David is both shadow of Christ (Christ is first) and model for Christ (Christ is last).
You stroll through fields of flowers without being heard, and You sprinkle the flowers with Your grace, so that the blood of the earth may not look through, but the beauty of God. Sprinkle the field of my soul with Your grace also, so that it may not be said that the field of my soul sprouted from the blood of the earth, but that it is adorned with the beauty of God.
...
O Awesome and Almighty Spirit, by Your presence You turn a den of thieves into a haven of Heaven, and a terrifying universe into a temple of God. Descend into me also, I beseech You, and turn a handful of ashes into what You know how to do and can.
One of the things I wrestle with here is how speculative it feels. It is simply impossible to imagine who i could or would have been without the actual events of my life. (Although the movie ‘Sliding Doors’ plays with this question). And/but it also makes sense, as you say, that we don’t want to make evil constitutive of what may have been possible. How do we ground this stuff pastorally? One way might be bringing it constantly into this present moment. Trauma is a present reality in that it lives in our present-moment body/brain biology and God is offering healing in the present moment. I may not be able to imagine who i may have been apart from the events of my life, but perhaps I can imagine a future (starting today) which is not bound or constituted by those events. Is this where the real transfiguring work of Christ happens? And then we also remember that our deepest and enduring identity is more than what we have done and what has been done to us. I have heard you, Chris, talk about the distinction between the beloved Judas created by God and the Son of Perdition as his wounded persona (a very helpful distinction). I don’t know. I’m being speculative. 😉Lots to ponder.
Thank you for this comment, Michael. I am grateful in part because you've prompted me to devote some time to writing up a proper defense of theological speculation. In short, it'll be something along these lines: speculation is essential to human knowing and so to good theology and pastoral care. Indeed, if I may be so bold, nothing is more practical or pastoral that speculation because that mode of glorying (as opposed to grasping) is the heart of our vocation. Right now, at least in my circles, teaching/ preaching and pastoral care is terribly unimaginative, I'm afraid, and I'm convinced that that is a direct result of our lack of *speculatio* — pondering, as you say, and daring to "dream up" the possible consequences of God's being God for us.
Nice to see.
Great conversation. Really grateful for it.
My congregation definitely has the “Mary Scaries” too. I found a way of angling into that mystery through the life of David. In Bonhoeffer’s lecture on King David he points out that scripture says Jesus is both the “root of David” and the “branch of David.” So, he says, David is both shadow of Christ (Christ is first) and model for Christ (Christ is last).
‘God will not let that asymmetry stand’. Boom!
You stroll through fields of flowers without being heard, and You sprinkle the flowers with Your grace, so that the blood of the earth may not look through, but the beauty of God. Sprinkle the field of my soul with Your grace also, so that it may not be said that the field of my soul sprouted from the blood of the earth, but that it is adorned with the beauty of God.
...
O Awesome and Almighty Spirit, by Your presence You turn a den of thieves into a haven of Heaven, and a terrifying universe into a temple of God. Descend into me also, I beseech You, and turn a handful of ashes into what You know how to do and can.
– St. Nicholai of Ohrid
One of the things I wrestle with here is how speculative it feels. It is simply impossible to imagine who i could or would have been without the actual events of my life. (Although the movie ‘Sliding Doors’ plays with this question). And/but it also makes sense, as you say, that we don’t want to make evil constitutive of what may have been possible. How do we ground this stuff pastorally? One way might be bringing it constantly into this present moment. Trauma is a present reality in that it lives in our present-moment body/brain biology and God is offering healing in the present moment. I may not be able to imagine who i may have been apart from the events of my life, but perhaps I can imagine a future (starting today) which is not bound or constituted by those events. Is this where the real transfiguring work of Christ happens? And then we also remember that our deepest and enduring identity is more than what we have done and what has been done to us. I have heard you, Chris, talk about the distinction between the beloved Judas created by God and the Son of Perdition as his wounded persona (a very helpful distinction). I don’t know. I’m being speculative. 😉Lots to ponder.
Thank you for this comment, Michael. I am grateful in part because you've prompted me to devote some time to writing up a proper defense of theological speculation. In short, it'll be something along these lines: speculation is essential to human knowing and so to good theology and pastoral care. Indeed, if I may be so bold, nothing is more practical or pastoral that speculation because that mode of glorying (as opposed to grasping) is the heart of our vocation. Right now, at least in my circles, teaching/ preaching and pastoral care is terribly unimaginative, I'm afraid, and I'm convinced that that is a direct result of our lack of *speculatio* — pondering, as you say, and daring to "dream up" the possible consequences of God's being God for us.
For sure. Difficult and, for that very reason, valuable.