10-11-23

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
October 11, 2023
My friend Michelle Beech posted the following quote yesterday, and it really resonated with me. 

"We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn."
~Mary Catherine Bateson  

I did not know the name Mary Catherine Bateson, but like so often happens, once I started reading about her, I was intrigued and realized she was probably a person I should have had on my radar. Bateson was an author, cultural anthropologist, and activist. Her words probably struck me, in part, because of my recent sermon on keys. Too often, the leadership and structural powers within Christianity have withheld key knowledge, insight, historical realities, etc. from laypeople, in part as a way of making sure no one has the tools to question the system. Even in more recent years, the idea of fear-based fundamentalism has left the interpretation of the scripture to the ministers as the sole access point for truth and insight. Lay folks (non-clergy) are, in some settings, given space to provide opinions on the irrelevant and inconsequential aspects of the faith but are required to tow the line on all the “important” issues (defined by the leadership).

Now I do believe ministers have been called to provide leadership to the education and discipleship process, but this is not usually some declaration from on high of what is right, true, and beyond question. If anything, the tools a pastor should be providing a congregation with are the capacity to ask good questions about the Bible and theology. To know where to find good resources and to see the sermon and other teaching moments as a starting point for discussion is essential. I can’t tell you how many times someone has been provided the freedom to ask questions (maybe coming from a tradition where that was never allowed) and then given tools through which scripture is unlocked and opened in ways not previously seen. Boom! Something amazing happens. Some of the most insightful thoughts on scripture and theology have come from someone who has just been given a key, and suddenly a door is unlocked and an idea jumps from the page that no one else, including me, had ever noticed before. Truly a God moment.


God of inspiration and insight, revelation, and open doors, we give you thanks for every aha moment through which the larger community of faith is blessed by the uniqueness of an individual’s experience bringing light to a portion of scripture. You continue to enlighten us through the broadness and richness of the church. Amen.