As I think I mentioned in my last post, my church small groups is going through "Seven Foundations of Faith!" All of the small groups are doing this, and thus far, I have not been so impressed. I think so far they have covered Jesus and soteriology, reading the Bible, devotionals, accountability, something else I missed, and now "God the Father." Yes, yes, I have already ranted about what I think about all this "God is a man" business. But actually, what bothered me about this was that "they" thought it was necessary to talk solely about God the father without talking about the Trinity. Maybe last week was on the Holy Spirit, and I missed it. But is this "Fatherly" business a foundation? It is foundational as a Christian to understand/believe the metaphor of God as Father? What about all the other metaphors? And like I said, what about the Trinity?
Alrighty, it was a nice little talk I suppose, but there was something else (believe it or not) that bothered me. We spoke about not worrying ("What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?"), and God taking care of us ("Look at the birds of the air and the lilies of the field."), and God's discipline (Hebrews). All I could think was a quote that someone gave me from another professor, "If you can't say it to a poor person, then don't say it."
We all talk about ourselves too much. A personal relationship with God is great, but it is not isolated, and it seems like everyone talks about it that way, and that is the way I am expected to talk about it. "I feel this" and "This is the way God is for me" and "What I get from that is..." and ok, it doesn't sound so bad, but at a certain point, all I can think of is all the exceptions! The world is full of people who do not have perfect lives like all of us well-educated upper-middle class 20-somethings. We are the exceptions to the world, and most of the world thinks our lives and how we apply the Bible is a dream.
My main point:
What do I really have to worry about? Shame on me for worrying about papers and work and blah blah blah, my life is sooo hard (NOT), while there really are people who legitimately worry about food, water, and shelter. Where is their Father? What right do I have to apply that Scripture to my life? If I am going to apply it, I am going to go and start helping people--giving and showing all the blessings I can possibly give.
I don't know. Is the message about taking the verse and applying it to my life (i.e. "I worry, but God takes care of me..."), or is it about applying it to everything I can possibly apply it to (i.e. "I worry... but mostly about stupid things, and I should find ways to demonstrate to people in need that they do not need to worry and share my resources.").
Well, on the bright side, I decided that I like this new small group that I am a part of better than my old small group because there is more of a chance to discuss. The leader this week simply asked questions, which I think is good, and makes me feel like everyone gets a chance to say something, instead of an official "answer" being offered every time a comment is made. We'll see if I stick with them through the new year...
