So for these next few months (this Season After pentecost) we're talking about beliefs.

What do we believe? If you were raised in the church, remember when and how you learned about "the faith"? Parents probably talked with you about God and/or the church, etc. Then the good-hearted Sunday School teachers taught you other things. What they taught us wasn't bad, for sure. They taught us in ways we could understand at our young ages. It was somewhat simplistic, very basic, and certainly not nuanced for adult understanding. It was appropriate to the age group they were teaching. plus I bet the other thing was - and this isn't to be critical of those good teachers - I'll bet they hadn't had a developed class of "theology" themselves. So what might have happened was they were teaching that which they had learned... at a young age themselsves.

The our generation grows up, having learned what we learned from the good teachers, and we have questions. Well, who's there to answer them? Some have found thta when they ask the hard questions, they get anger back. Don't ask those kinds of questions! Just believe!

I think that is an easier thing to say than to say, I don't know... but let's delve deeper into the issue.

But the things is, here I'm talking most about Theology - that academic, dry discussion of the churches teachings about this or that doctrine, and how they came about. Interesting in it's way. But in my opinion, that's not where the real power is.

What I love to hear about is where people are on their journey of life, where they are heading (in the symbolic sense) and where God is in their lives.

Where am I in this way? I'm looking for something, but I'm still not certain what it is. It's related to the Spirit. There is an unease with where I'm at. It almost feels like something is missing. Now, maybe it's my age. I'm almost 43, and statistics show that, across the board, in almost every culture and country, the sense of "happiness" drops in people in their 40's.

Is that what it is? Mid-life crisis? I'm not interested in running off with anyone... and I'm not that interested in cars to go and buy a corvette or something like that.

I think this has to do with the Spirit. And I think a good portion of people's mid-life crises may very well have to do with the Spirit too. What are we looking for? A connection to the divine? A real sense of being connected to someone else? Does it have to do with a sense of purpose... of feeling like you want to have something for your tiem on this earth?

How does all this sit with me? I can talk about God in theological terms, even explain Lutheran theology with the best of them. But then there is the "non-theologian, regular guy (who happens to be trained as a theologian)" who encounters the divine. I have a real sense there is something out there. Sounds like the something from the old "X Files" show -- The Truth Is Out There!

I've had what I can only describe as vision, and other very strange (but certainly interesting) experiences. For about 14 years I've done healing energy work. Then of course there are the countless "coincidences" along the journey. These things just don't seem to have a "rational" theological explanation.

I think it's easier and much safer to have a theological discussion about the power of God. We theologians (especially Lutheran ones) want to be sure peope have an understanding of the love of God, or the compassionof God, or the -whatever- of God... because we truly believe these things about God! And we want people to know that these thigns are true about God whether we "feel" them or not! They are still true!

But... the thing is - we really want to feel God's presence in their lives. Can we go our whole lives without feeling God? Yes - ask Mother Teresa. Evidently her letters (now put in book form) to her spiritual director indicated she was in a prolonged, decades-long dry-spell where she did not have a personal experience of God.

But we long for them. She did too!

I often say the biggest strength of Lutheranism is it's theology. Lutheran theology has learned to formulate and express the mystery of God in a clear and present way. And yet the biggest weakness of Lutheranism is it's theology. In the practice of explaining, we've gotten too into our heads, and have learned to distrust "experience".

I remember when I was at seminary, some of my professors talked about favoring the mond over feelings. People are easily manipulated through feelings, so watch out for that. We tend to look with suspicion on those Christian churches and traditions that really evoke strong emotional responses through songs and tear-jerker stories... and combining these two - watch out! Stick with the theological. Explain God in healthy ways.

But having Gone that path, I'm more aware than ever that people are looking for not only healthy understandings of God, but healthy experiences of God too! And why can't we be there to help this happen?

Where would a Native Ameerican, or indigenous Lutheran pastor/theologian stand? Often, many traditional native/indigenous cultures value experiences and signs of the Sacred Mystery. They are important to the growth process, not only of the individual, but of the people that individual is connected to.

While I was in seminary, we students had to go through a process of "vetting". Before starting seminary, and during the four years there, we had to meet with a team of people representing teh church to see not only how you're coming along in your education, but how this might translate through to your ministry - more often than not centered around your theological perspectives.
I rememebr once desribing God as a Mystery - one that we do know something about, but one that has more to it that is hidden from us most of the time. Well one of the peopel there was rather bothered by that word "Mystery". From how they responded to me, I got the impression that their sense of mystery was something to be solved and understood.

But yet we cannot understand god except only partially at best. All we have to make sense of are pieces. Not that these pieces are useless (God loves us- for example, we do believe that!), but they really are only pieces. We say God is omnipotent... and is in control of everything. And yet things like cancer kills peopel, or a tsunami, or plane crashes, etc. Does God love us enough to stop these things from causing so much pain? But yet these things occur. Is God in charge or not? See what I mean... there is a mystery there. No matter how much we "know" about God... there is more we don't know.

And yet we keep looking, we keep seeking. What do we do with an actual experience? We all ahev them, we all seek them. We need to be able to make healthy sense of these experiences. So in that sense my theological training helps. But I like to start where the person is... on what I call the Sacred Journey.

I start with this:
How do you connect with God? And it can be different for different people. For me the Native traditions seem to sit best in me. I'm part Native American from a few generations back, but it still seems to pull me in.
What have your experiences of the Mystery of God been like? For me some of the most powerful experiences have had to do with Native symbols. So, I wanted to make some sense of these experiences, I didn't go to a Lutheran theologian, I went to Native people to ask what they thought they meant, and how they made sense of these things. Then I also used my theological training to help make sense of what they told me.

We'll talk more... add your thoughts too!