Doing Theology

Beloved Community,

This week, as I prepare my sermon on John 10, I’ve been wrestling with some questions.

How do I invite people to go deeper into their own understanding of God?

How do I explain God to others, when honestly, sometimes, the world makes me doubt my own understanding of God too.

So I did what I tend to do when I’m stuck. I dig deep into rabbit holes, which more often than not, lead me back to my old notes. 

Tonight, I found myself buried in my old seminarian materials, reading up on a call that focused on Eucharist and Baptist. It was there that I stumbled upon a framework I hadn’t used in a while. It is a structure for the different ways we might wrestle with theology. 

I wanted to share my notes with you all.

The word theology comes from the Greek. 

Theos = God

Logos = Word, Meaning

Theology is not just something pastors, deacons, and scholars do in classrooms and churches. Theology is something all of us do, all the time. Every time we ask, where is God in this. Every time we try to make meaning out of hardships and difficult situations. Every time we pray, every time doubt creeps up within us, every time we show up because we’re listening to the nudge of something beyond us. That is theology.

It is us humans, doing the deeply holy work of trying to understand God.

Even though it feels messy. We can’t fully understand everything. And yet, we are still participating in theology. And faith, faith is what moves us to keep doin it, to keep digging deeper, even when we want to give up and the times we do give up.

My old notes reminded me of three ways we might relate to the theology we’re carrying. 

The first is what my professor described as home theology.

Home theology is the place in your faith where you feel most yourself. Where you feel at home, at ease, where things click and you think, yes, I know this place. I feel comfortable and my heart feels at rest here. 

Maybe it’s an image of God you hold close to your heart. Maybe it is a particular way you pray, that the rhythm feels comfortable to return to. A passage of scripture you return over and over throughout different seasons of your life. 

Home theology feels like a gift, for it is where you feel comforted and alive in your faith.

The second is growth theology.

Growth theology is a space within your faith where some things may unsettle you. Where you might feel resistance within you. Especially when you feel the tug to go deeper and part of you isn’t sure you want to. And as you venture deeper into this space of faith, it is where God keeps meeting in your discomfort. 

Growth theology might trouble us, it is the places, thoughts, and parts of our lives we might try our best to hold at arms length. ANd yet, it is in these liminal spaces that God is quietly stirring up an expansion within us we didn’t know was possible. 

Then the third is journey theology. 

Journey theology, this is where theology has shifted and changed over time. Where your image and understanding of God has been reshaped as time has passed. 

Journey theology continually asks us over time, what has shaped who I am in God? How has my understanding of God changed? And how does that change my relationship with God now? 

And as I sit with the passage John 10:1-10 this week, I let it ask me the same questions. Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice. And I find myself wondering, what does this mean for me, right now, at this moment. Where am I hearing God's voice? Where am I not? 

And so, I also invite you to discern these same questions. To notice where God is already showing up in your home, in your growth, in the stories of your journey.

Where is your faith most alive right now? 

Where is God inviting you into waters that feel unfamiliar and challenging?

And as you move into unknown holy waters, perhaps you might look back on your own journey and remember what has already carried you.

What does your life journey tell you about how God has been present, even in times that you felt most alone?

Together, let us pray.

God of the open gates. 

You know each of our names. 

This week, meet us where we are, calling us by name,

In our homes, in the places where we are growing even when the stretching feels uncomfortable. Remind us, again and again, because it is easy for us to forget. That you journey with us, wherever we might find ourselves.

Help us to see your thread of grace and love woven throughout our lives. 

Lead us, O God, so that we may recognize your voice.

Amen.

In the hope of the One Who Calls Us by Name,

Pastor Rachel