From the Pastoral Note, July 2022
Dear B-B Friends,
As a freshman in high school, my basketball coach would start every practice with a quote and would ask us what we thought it meant. For some mysterious reason, one quote has stuck with me almost twenty years later: “Journey over destination.” I’ve become fond of saying the quote somewhat sarcastically to lighten the mood when things aren’t going as planned, but I do find a lot of truth to the idea. After taking countless life detours, feeling oftentimes like I’m just wandering around and looking for something I haven’t yet identified, and experiencing numerous unexpected twists and turns, I’ve discovered that if I don’t learn to enjoy the journey, life will be much more difficult and disappointing.
This summer we’re revisiting several doubts that people from our church shared a couple of months ago. I spent so many years of my life stressing over the unanswerable questions that I share with many of you—how can I relax and learn to enjoy life if there’s so much I don’t have a sensible answer to? I mistook the destination for the journey.
I like to think of theology as sustained reflection on God and the things of God, and one ancient theologian described theology as “faith seeking understanding.” Over time I’ve learned that faith seeking understanding is very different than faith finding understanding. The seeking is the journey. The seeking is where we build community. The seeking is where we learn to live in the gray area. The seeking is where we become most creative and listen most intently for what the Spirit is still saying.
In this summer series, those of us who are preaching are giving some preliminary thoughts about life’s big questions. But these aren’t final destinations. They’re simply stops on the journey, and we will continue to learn from and lean on each other as life goes on, new questions arise, and our old answers no longer make as much sense.
Welcome to the journey!
Pastor Thad
Link to Summer Worship sermons – Doubts