Currently reading: The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis š
Oliver Burkeman, author of the superb Four Thousand Weeks, commenting on our misguided attempts to hoard our experiences:
The truth, of course, is that experiences are for having, not for hoarding. As J. Jennifer Matthews puts it, in her book Radically Condensed Instructions for Being Just as You Are, āwe cannot get anything out of life. There is no outside where we could take this thing to. There is no little pocket situated outside of lifeā to which you could take ālifeās provisions and squirrel them away.ā Spending your days trying to get experiences āunder your beltā, in an effort to maximise your collection of experiences, or to feel more confident about the future supply of similar experiences, means placing yourself in a position from which you can never enjoy them fully, because thereās a different agenda at play.
“I’m getting a snack; do you want something?” my wife asks from the kitchen.
“No, I’m fine,” I reply. “I’ve got a candy cane.”
Currently reading: How to Be Normal by Phil Christman š
The ministry of the Word involves more than communicating a few truths; it involves transmitting a whole way of thinking and experiencing. Preaching and teaching should be “evangelistic,” then, in the sense of enabling people to indwell the gospel (= evangel) as the primary framework for all that they say and do.
Theology’s task is to equip disciples to speak and act in ways that correspond to the gospel in particular contexts. Not just any word or action will do. Not all words and acts are appropriate to the subject matter; not all words and acts achieve theo-dramatic “fit.” The drama of evangelical theology pertains to knowing how to interpretāwhich is to say, performāthe gospel in concrete situations. Doctrine’s role in the drama is to enable the church to build wisdom’s house: a pattern of speech and action that fits in with creation and redemption alike to the glory of God. There is drama in seeing whether what the church builds will collapse when the waves begin to beat, or whether it will stand in spite of opposition.
