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Preface

The time does seem to be out of joint.

Hamlet is certainly not the only one ever to call the time out of joint, to cry that the intended order of things was not running true to course. The recent appearance of books decrying the possible collapse of so much that we have taken for granted must mean there is an audience of those who feel the same way.

Perhaps it is time to reissue Paul Tillich’s classic work from the ‘70s, The Shaking of the Foundations. Many confess that is an apt description of our current situation which Tillich found over half a century ago in Psalm 82. Verse five declares: They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

The questions are obvious: Is there some knowledge, is there a place of partial understanding, is there at least a glimmer of light to provide some stability and security in such a threatening world? That is what this book seeks to provide.

This is not a book of shocking revelations.

If you want to get market attention, one way to do it is to write the most outrageous book one can imagine. After over sixty years of pastoral ministry, mine would be titled: Why I No Longer Believe What I Have Been Preaching and Teaching All My Life. This is not what this book is about. It is not about a loss of faith or an attack on what is wrong with so much in and outside the world of faith. One of the things I have learned (through years of practice) is that after the ranting and the raving something else must follow. This book represents for me that something else.

That something else is rooted in my biblical and religious heritage that always provided some clear markers. Not so much destination markers as direction markers like God’s word to Abraham, “Go in this direction.” Directional markers are not the same as “answer” posts, many of which I found to be detours in my faith journey. This is the reason for my underlying complaint: too many in too many fields of endeavor want to have things nailed down with the hammer blow of conviction that proclaims: “This is a settled issue.” My chief complaint in the religious world is that too often those who have things nailed down will nail you down if you don’t come to the same finalities they have reached. Whatever happened to the biblical reminder in 1 Corinthians 13: We know in part? Where is the recognition of that incompleteness that is forever part of our search for truth and wisdom? Where is that humility that confesses even after our best efforts our knowledge always falls short of the completeness that belongs only to God?

Although Paul maintains: Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror (1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT), his writings assert there are some things we do see. Our imperfect vision does not mean total blindness. There is much that can be known but never with completeness and finality that sadly results in no further exploration or openness to greater dimensions of truth.

“Fixity is not a quality of serious reality.”

The history of ideas and understanding quickly reveals that at many times and in many places many were convinced they had discovered the final piece in a particular puzzle of knowledge until only shortly thereafter other explorers found a different piece that made it necessary to give the former one a toss. Not so long ago it was a scientific “fact” that our earth was the center of the universe. The list of “we used to believe but now we know that…” is practically endless. Walter Brueggemann in An Unsettling God puts the idea like this:

…fixity is not a quality of serious reality….it is in process and in on-going transformation. When we are freed from static categories of interpretation that are widely utilized among us, we are able to see that the articulation of God in the Old Testament partakes exactly of the qualities of complexity, dynamism, and fluidity that belong to the post-modern world.1

Where we will travel in this book:

1 The world and the life of faith both loom larger with mystery. The immensity of everything is beyond our comprehension. To know this is to stand in the place of awareness.

2 We are not given all the answers we would like to have but more often than not we are pointed in a direction or given a way to proceed even with unanswered questions.

3 Ecclesiastes, after enumerating the things that do not bring meaning or purpose to our brief lives, concludes with the affirmation of an accountability day, affirming that who we are and what we do matter eternally to God.

4 Just as Jesus never gave his students (disciples) a diploma, even so we are enrolled in his life-course which I firmly believe continues into the life beyond.

5 Our common humanity enables us to live with compassion and empathy in a world where we literally are “all in this thing together.”

6 The test of our life philosophies comes when we find ourselves at wit’s end and need to rely on resources that are above and beyond any “self-help”.

7 Imperfection appears to be built into our very existence and is the great reminder that there will always be many things we need to complete.

8 Forgiveness is the daily remedy for the healing of our relationships with God, others, and ourselves.

9 The world (life lived apart from God and his purposes) continues to keep shouting its principles while the voice of God’s Spirit continues the whispers of wisdom.

10 Doubt and discouragement should never lead us to believe that God only responds to those who have perfect faith.

11 Every commandment in Scripture has to do with relationship in one form or another. It is these relationships that form the basis of our lives (both physically and spiritually).

12 Anger and fear will never lead us where we need to go; they are red flags that call for a deep examination of what lies behind them.

13 Living effectively in this world calls for the abandonment of the search for the peace and tranquility of any fabled Shangri-La.

14 Whatever can happen to anybody in life can happen to us — but not without God’s abiding presence and unconditional love around us.

15 Whatever term we choose to use, it is evident that there are forces of evil present in the world that are contrary to the will and purpose of God. They may have their day, but they will have no part in God’s eternity.

16 Understanding ourselves and others is practically impossible because the many deep secrets within all of us are well hidden.

17 The overarching theme of Scripture is the same from Genesis to Revelation: the unearned grace of God keeps pursuing us with his goodness and mercy (Psalm 23:6).

18 Change is built into the very existence of the universe. Dealing with these changes demands our openness to the leadership of the Spirit and responses that are prayerful, thoughtful, and reflective.

19 The crash at the end of the Sermon on the Mount is the great reminder that wishing, hoping, intending, and dreaming must all finally take back seats to a plan of action.

20 Not every decision needs to be made right now. Some require more space, information, or counsel until we have enough light to move forward.

21 …no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Each chapter begins with a general discussion of the subject, followed by “Musings and Insights from Hither and Yon” in which I have the opportunity to explore some additional ideas that have been whirling around in my brain and lying dormant in my files. Each chapter concludes with “Questions for Reflection and Conversation.” The Bibliography of Quoted Sources follows the Conclusion.

Let’s sit down together and talk a little.

A word about my style of writing in this book. A friend who read one of my books made the comment, “I can hear your voice as I read.” There continues to be some debate over whether or not there are two kinds of writing: one for reading and one to be heard. I always attempt to write for the ear as well as the eye. I imagine my reader seated across from me as I talk about things that matter to me in my life and in my faith. My goal is for maximum understanding, not for maximum agreement.

I trust you will find your journey through these pages to be as exciting, challenging, and faith-enhancing as I did in the writing. Let me know. My email address is rbooks5000@aol.com.

Ron Higdon

1 Walter Brueggemann, An Unsettling God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009), xii.