So I went on a run...

And began to think of how theology is music. Good music has an effect, it stirs the soul. It somehow strikes the listener as rich, meaningful, creative, and worthwhile. It is an interpretive exercise, and that is part of the beauty. I often judge music based upon how it effects me, I do the same with theology. I don’t really find much point in theology unless it effects me in some way, unless it translates into some form of action, whether than be physical or emotional. I think that is a large part of what I meant in my previous post when I was talking about a dead eschatology. It mutes action, it prevents us from taking initiative, from mimicking the divine creator. What is more dead and boring than a lack of creativity? We should be constantly creative, constantly striving to create a world of difference, something more beautiful, something more meaningful, something which we want to hold on to. Not something we hope will soon be thrown away.
This is just how I judge theology, by what effect it has upon me. I don’t care much about the theology nearly as much as its effect. That is all I really have to say on that.
But music, that is beautiful. It is creative and dynamic, and I love images which I previously had not thought of before. Today I was listening to Wilco on the last leg of my run, and in their song “Jesus, etc,” one line strikes me as especially relevant to this conversation.
“Our love, Our love is all we have,
Our love, Our love is all of God’s money
Every one is a burning sun.”
What if that is it. What if our love is all of God’s money. What if our love is all God has to use in the transformation of the world. I don’t know about you, but the thought makes me happy. It makes me realize that we have a purpose beyond some divine tragedy. We are the transformative agents, and rather than theology being the straight jacket of our faith, it is merely that which compels us to action. Theology too can be beautiful. We just have a tendency to prefer the jacket.