x-posted from xianleft

[2eclipse]

someone on the christianleft community asked about finding joy in christ. i thought this was an interesting question so i am posting my response here.



did you know that john wesley accused himself of insufficient joy to be a good christian?

for me a lot of the joy i experience is about understanding and radical love. and i like my understanding complicated so i went to seminary to get it and finished an emphasis in systematic theology. i didn't used to understand the significance of Christ in christianity and so now i like to remind myself frequently of the many ways that Christ is God in solidarity with the least and lost and that means hope even for me. i know that i am not worth such a sacrifice...and i am reminded that love is not about what people are worth. it is an irrational thing. i am overpowered by the idea that God could love me that much. that He could love my screwed up friends as much as i love them. that there is hope for all of us because of what happened on the cross. and when i read moltman or wesley or even some of my class notes i tear up with overwhelmed feeling that something so miraculous could happen and that God loves us enough to make it happen. a really good sermon will do this to me too, but less reliably. as i read more and spend more time meditating on the mystery of our salvation, the joy of Christ comes to me more easily. instead of being confronted by joy only when i am reading or having theology crammed into my brain, i experience that joy when i correct my thoughts down a more christian path or when i give granola bars to homeless people or when i help a friend through a hard time. i suspect that this could get to be like a runner's high and that truely good christians are really joy addicts.

Comments

[knitthenight.livejournal.com]

That's awesome. :) I love hearing about other people's faith.

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

thanks!
you might like the community then. i used to work at the interfaith conference of metropolitan washington (nine different faiths putting out statements that they all could agree on). i worked with two catholics, a muslim, and a zoroastrian every day and saw people from ba'hai, seik, jain, hindu and buddhist faiths on a regular basis. it was pretty awesome. at every meeting we would discuss traditions of another religion and i got to take the meeting minutes.

[knitthenight.livejournal.com]

Wow, that sounds really amazing.

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

grad school internships are pretty cool when you go to seminary.:)