Theology shocker

Last Sunday (Jan 29), I was really thrown off balance by how many people really seemed to want to talk about theology. I wasn't prepared for that. Could you tell? I expected people to resist theology. "Well, all I really care about is what the Bible says." Or, I expected them to be bored with the theology of the confessions. Instead, people really seemed to dig into the the theology of baptism.

The more I've thought about what happened Sunday, the more I liked it! First, it reminded me how much I enjoy teaching CHEERS. You guys don't look for the easy answers and then move on. You dig and you think. Also, you want to wrestle together over what God is doing among us. I love that from you! It's a privilege to try to ride herd on you as you talk it out, although often I feel on the verge of losing control. (Am I supposed to be in control as the teacher?)

The other thing I like is the importance we seem to be putting on theology. That's a shift for many of us who grew up in different church traditions, especially American Southern fundamentalism, that discourage deep thought. The discussion challenged my beliefs, though, and it exposed me. Do I really believe that theology is central to who we are as God's people? But, I'm thinking, "Yep!". I was reading Exodus this morning, marveling over God's absolute control over Pharoah and seeing all of these connections between the plagues on Egypt and the plagues in Revelation. Then, I realized I was making sense of what I was reading based on my theology: God is Sovereign, Pharaoh is vessel raised up for ignoble purposes, God was buiding the faith of the Israelites. Then, as I got to the final plague and saw the Passover, it hit me--the point is Jesus. That's the story that God is always telling. He's orchestrating history to exalt his Son! There's so much theology underpinning that, and I will read the Bible through the glasses of my theology, wheether those glasses are good or bad. So, theology is really good, right?