"He was a fool in the sense that he didn't or couldn't or wouldn't resolve, intellectualize, evade, the tensions of his faith but lived those tensions out, torn almost in two by them at times. His faith was not a seamless garment but a ragged garment that he clutched about him like a man in a storm." (F. Buechner "Living Your Life" pp.33-34)
One of the hardest things about being a person of faith, in my case a Christian, is living with the tensions, the contradictions and the parts that just plain baffle me. I find that faith is something that continues to challenge me intellectually, spiritually and emotionally.
I encounter fellow Christians, whose values seem foreign to me. I can't figure out how we worship the same God, have read the same Bible and yet have come to such radically different conclusions about what is important to living in relationship with God and with others.
I try not to ignore or explain away the parts that I'm not comfortable with or just don't understand. I was once asked did I take scripture literally or metaphorically. I said neither I take it seriously.
I am sure that I know people who think I'm foolish to believe in God. To try to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And yet I can think of no other way of living that makes any sense to me at all.
So I guess I too am a fool. A fool for Christ, a fool for the sake of the world. And a fool for not needing everything to be neat and tidy in any way, shape or form.
Blessings,
Ed
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