CONNECTING DOTS

I listened to a radio interview toady, a middle age lady who is a Lutheran minister. What set her apart was that she was a spiky haired, heavily tattooed, former alcoholic, stand up comic who swore like a truck driver and defied convention. After completing a 12 step sobriety program she followed an interest in theology, went to seminary and came out the other end an ordained minister. Mainline clergy were slow to approve but none of them could fault anything about her academic preparation. Her new purpose was to serve her people; addicts, drag queens, LGBT and others who were down and struggling in Denver, CO. 

What struck me about the conversation was her view on Faith. She thought it a gift; that you can not acquire it of your own initiative, that praying for it is a waste of time. She quoted Martin Luther, the namesake of her church and I thought of the movie, ‘Angels & Demons’ when the cleric asks Tom Hanks if he believes in God. Hanks reply, “Faith is a gift I have yet to receive.” We all have hopes (wanna-be Faith) and behave as we must but Luther said that Faith is the intersection between what we believe and what God moves us to do. Thus follows his premise, “Faith without works is dead.” God’s moving us is the gift. It underscores the Calvinist principle of predestination. Theologians have massaged and twisted that little problem so thoroughly that now they can have it both ways. 

I have resorted to connecting-the-dots without the benefit/burden of religion. For much of my life I trusted religion to be the dot-connector but I no longer pour water down that hole. I use what I understand via logic and reason. I trust critical analysis. Then I accept that there is a breech between what can be calculated and what can not. We know that emotion/feelings move us at a deeper level than does knowledge. “Passion drives and logic follows.” David Hume, 19th century, Scottish philosopher resisted this conclusion for decades but in the end, had to accept it. Modern research has corroborated his thoughts in a much more timely process. Joseph Campbell said that ‘God’ is the metaphor we use for the mystery in our lives; what we can’t deny but don’t understand. In the end I try to find balance and go with what feels right, knowing that everything changes. A fundamental flaw with Western Religion is the need for absolute, universal truths, which is not so bad in itself but they want it right now and that’s a problem. As truth evolves we update our knowledge base and move a step closer to the elusive absolute. It takes time. A human lifetime may seem long when viewed from within but it’s just a blink, a single frame in a very long movie. We get neither the credit nor the satisfaction of knowing who-done-it.

The tattooed, lady minister was a good interview and it made me think. I hope the radio station wrote her a nice check. My gut feeling is that her Faith would pass Martin Luther’s test; without works it doesn’t float. Her purpose is to nurture her flock and God is her instrument. My evangelical counterparts believe that pleasing God is their purpose and to be his instrument, all they have to do is believe. I cannot escape the tug of my culture or the myth it sprang from but I can resist it. I know beau coups more than my forebears  about where the sun goes when it sets. Watching the sun sink behind a familiar lighthouse, I feel much the same as Ferdinand Magelland must have felt on some unexplored shore but I look for truth to Campbell and Sagan who did the math first.