theology and discipleship

In a recent Baptist Times is an interview with Revd Dr Pat Took, recently inducted as President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain.

At one point she says:

"We need good, thoughtful and seasoned theology in our churches.  We also need loving discipleship.  We need that from ministers, who are the community pastors and theologians, and we need everyone to have access to such good theology and discipleship." 

Sometimes theology gets a bad press.  There's a wedge driven between the 'intellectual' and the 'experiential' as if were not all living, feeling and thinking beings - united, not fragmented. Sometimes you get the feeling that the 'ivory tower' stereotype is still out there.  But I think theology is vibrant, dynamic, and sustaining.  We have been given the capacity for deep thinking and deep feeling.  Both together = deep living.

Perhaps one day I should blog about my preoccupation with 'depth' - but the story behind it feels a mite too personal still.  Occasionally I share it as part of my testimony.  But that quote from Richard Foster at the bottom of this blog is no casually chosen thing.  This quest for depth has characterised my journey and indeed my blog will always be looking deeper.  That was its primary purpose.

But I digress, ever so slightly.

Theology and discipleship are co-partners, companions, each sustaining our lives and enriching them.

We need everyone to have access.  Yes.  We have all been given eyes and ears, minds and hearts that we should love the LORD our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  Do we seek him with both mind and heart?  Do we seek understanding?  Wisdom?  To be a disciple and to make disciples?

forgetfulness

My thoughts are vague, scattered. My Christian journey has been a lonely one recently, through various circumstances, and thus I struggle to keep my focus. Every now and then I catch a hint of understanding, a taste of it, but then my mind busily continues with its habit of forgetfulness. It seems rational to me that the true test of character comes at the darkest times . How would I measure up? It's so easy not to try.

The sieve-like nature of my brain does not help. I know I am the sort of person who does not fully retain things unless I keep at them, keep examining them - feed them, you could say. I wish I had the kind of mind that retained and analysed in an organised, cohesive way, able to accurately state at every moment why I think what I do, and how I came to that conclusion. It's frustrating not being able to remember what you yourself once discovered and understood. I appreciate this is partly to do with my health struggles, but I believe I would lean towards it anyway. Unless I cling sharply to something, it becomes misty, blurred.

We all feel differently, yes. We also all think differently. How do we measure the depth of a person? By intelligence, action, or feeling? What does it mean to go deeper?