Last week, the NC Delegation met and our primary task for the day was to discern whom we might put forth as our Episcopal Nominee to be considered at the 2020 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference. As we interviewed Rev. Edie Gleaves (who we ultimately selected), one of the questions that we asked her and her response to the question has gotten me thinking.
The question was “Describe your theological journey and where are you in that journey now?” As she shared with us, she made it clear that her theological journey is not over, and she hopes it never will be. I loved her response! And I think that it is a very healthy posture for each of us to strive for.
I then began to ponder my own theological journey and where I am in it now. Thanks to my parents, I grew up in the church, rarely missing a Sunday. I was confirmed in the church at around 12 years old and in high school I worked closely with my pastor on the God and Life award through scouting… and then my study of scripture went through many years of essentially lying dormant. I attended church sporadically while in college, built back up to more regular attendance after getting married, began to make church an even higher priority after we began having children, and for a number of years spent more time “teaching” children’s Sunday School than engaging in any intentional growth in my own knowledge of and relationship with God. Although I benefitted from hearing excellent sermons and participated in meaningful worship services, I was not exactly digging deep into scripture and engaging in activities that would lead to deeper spiritual formation.
Things began to change when I enrolled in a Disciple Bible Study class. Our Associate Pastor, Rev. Lib Campbell was our Disciple I Facilitator and for the first time in my life I was involved in daily, in-depth Bible Study on my own and participating in a weekly class with others who were seeking to better understand our relationship with our creator. The next year I took another Disciple Bible Study class and I really hit the jackpot, in addition to Lib as our facilitator our class contained two additional clergy and some deep thinking laity as well.
Around that same time, also under Lib’s leadership, our church hosted a retreat with author Robert Benson who introduced us to the Daily Office and a Benedictine Rhythm. At that same retreat I walked a labyrinth for the first time. I was experiencing God in a fresh new way, and the more I experienced God, the fact that there will always be a mystery to God became more and more clear.
I can also remember a particular sermon that Rick Clayton, our Lead Pastor (at the time) preached where he said something about how God offers us grace over and over again (which was not really anything new), but then he went further to say that he wasn’t sure that anyone would ultimately be able to resist the offer of God’s grace. It helped me to think outside of the box that focused on those in and out of the Kingdom of God. I began to realize how our acceptance of God’s grace earlier on in our lives gives us the opportunity to live more fully and in step with God’s desire for our lives, and it expanded my theology.
Working with Tom Campbell and Dr. James “Mickey” Efird as we produced the Efird Bible Study Series, my theology continued to expand. I continue to hear Dr. Efird’s voice in my head as I approach the scripture with a better understanding of how we must consider the genre and study each book individually and completely and how we must be careful to consider the context and audience that the message was originally intended for.
I later encountered Rev. Dr. Bill Mallard who shared a paper with me that he had written to help us better understand how to approach text that refers to same gender relationships. He helped me to better understand the text that is so often used to discriminate against some of God’s most gifted and beloved people. My
theology continued to be expanded.
My soul has been thirsty to learn, grow and serve. So I read, I study, I attend worship regularly, I participate in educational opportunities and spiritually formative practices, and I remain open to continue to expand my theology.
I invite you to consider the same question that was asked of Edie… “Describe your theological journey and where are you in that journey now?” Perhaps it would be a good topic to discuss with a spiritual director or companion, or maybe you’d like to ponder and journal about the question. If your theology hasn’t changed much over the years, why?
Shalom y’all,
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Claire – Expanding Our Theology
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https://capitaldistrictnc.org/claire-ificaton/
