Wednesday, July 8, 2009

My first theological thought

I was thinking about how I would describe my personal theology today walking home from buying too many books at Barnes and Noble, and a thought popped into my head. I had my first theological thought at approximately age 4, and it was probably my best one ever. That isn't meant to sound arrogant or make me sound like a wise little kid. I think it was my best one because it is still my life's struggle and because it was so straight forward. I've used this story before for different reasons, mostly because its easy to reuse stories and not come up with new ones. So if you've heard this before, I apologize for my lack of creativeness.

When I was fourish I saw my first person who could not walk. I don't remember the details of it, but I do remember being shocked that this little girl, who was near my age, couldn't walk. She kinda scared me. I saw her on my way into the sanctuary. I remember being stunned and not sure what to think of her or how to respond. But then, and I remember this very clearly, I thought to myself "But God loves her too, and so should I." God's love seemed really big in that moment. God loved everyone, even little girls who scared me because they couldn't walk.

That's it. "God loves her too, and so should I." Gosh, those hard words to live by. God loves that annoying politician, and so should I. God loves the theologian that drives me crazy, and so should I. God loves (insert whoever scares me or upsets me), and so should I.

Now if I could only figure out how to love all those people that I don't feel very loving towards.

Faith like a child doesn't seem so childish when I think about it this way.

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