In this morning's bible study (which I love!) I found myself experiencing something I'm sure most seminary trained students experience. I was listening to people, discerning their theology, seeing the dangers in their theology, the holes, and feeling the need to correct them, but not sure when or how. One of the girls was sharing about the book The Shack (which is next on my "fun" books to read). She shared about how the book explored the humanity and divinity of Jesus and as she was sharing I heard, what were in my mind, HUGE holes. The theology behind the discussion was something that had been lettered as heresy in the early church, and now here we were sitting in a coffee shop in Manhattan, two young women, discussing this concept. And I wanted to throw my arms up and stop my new friend from going any further into this heretical discourse, to lead the group in a short and succinct, yet theologically sound, lecture on the early church's formation of the dual nature of Christ. But I didn't, and within 30 seconds the conversation had moved onto a different topic completely unrelated. Those 30 seconds were long enough however to make me keenly aware of the struggle that had just occured in my heart. I had the theological training to spot the problem, to discern the "off-ness" of the theology being presented. But I hadn't really been trained to share it outside of the format of the 10 page paper or a formal presentation. How do you learn these things? Should I be upset by the apparent lack of training I received in my theological education. For what good is theology if not shared and applied? No, I think Westminster did me a great good in training me to discern the theology under peoples words and actions, and now I need to pray for wisdom to move past the ivory tower, to use this training in the coffee shop conversations.
I live near a long thin park called Parque Forestal. It's really quite a nice park and it has a long stretch of a lane for riding bikes or jogging. And since I have a fear of riding bikes in this city, I jog. It's really pleasent. I usually listen to radioDisney on my mp3 player and jog along to Jonas Brothers, Beyonce, or Julieta Venegas. Great stuff. Yesterday on my jog I noticed that the trees were beginning to change. Fall has finally arrived and I am glad for the change. But as I was jogging through the falling leaves, I began to think about how much I like fall. And I had this special moment when I realized that I want to be here in Santiago, jogging through this park for many falls to come. After the past few weeks of cultural adjustment being a little more painful than normal, this was a nice thought to have.
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miss you becka!
love, erin :)