Happy New Year

Writing a blog is essentially a self-centered exercise -- I must think that there is something interesting in my thoughts if I am attempting to add them to the great cacophony of voices in the world we call cyberspace. After all, the greatest crime a blogger can commit is to be boring, and I hope I will not be that. But I am also not proposing to write great literature, or offer solutions to all of life's problems. Instead, these are the musings of someone who does not have all the answers, but hopes, in some small way to work my way closer to the Truth.

That capital T in truth is intentional. I am conversant with the theories of postmodernism -- I've even read Foucault, and survived to discuss it coherently! -- and agree with a great many of its criticism of modernity. However, as a Christian, I believe that there is truth beyond what our limited senses can reveal, an absolute truth that is contained within the person of the creator of the universe. That I believe we will never in this lifetime fully comprehend that truth, that I accept that each person will come away with an understanding of that truth built upon their own experiences, and must, to borrow from postmodern language, create their own narratives of understanding, does not in anyway diminish the fact that beyond all of us, beyond our limits and strivings, there is Truth.

As a red-letter Christian, I believe that the truth is found in the God of the Bible, and exemplified perfectly in the life of Jesus Christ, who was fully God and yet fully human. But what is a red-letter Christian? I came across the term recently in Tony Campolo's book "Letters to a Young Evangelical," and found it a perfect discription of the faith I want to live. As Campolo describes it, this is a label for those who, while Evangelical in theology, reject the baggage that comes with that term, particularly its association with the religious right. Along with other speakers and writers who embrace Evangelical teachings on faith and yet also believe in progressive social action, Campolo was searching for a name that reflected more clearly what he believed. Ironically, he relates, the name was suggested by a secular Jewish country and western DJ. "When he heard about our intense desire to be faithful to the words of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament, he said, 'Oh! You folks are into those verses in the Bible that are in red letters!"

That is my desire as well, to be faithful to the words of Jesus. But faith is a journey, and I have a long way to go. More than anything, this blog will be for me a record of the journey, and I hope, a catalyst for growth. If anyone else happens to read these words and find encouragement through my struggles to live what I say I believe, then I will be glad. But regardless, I hope that by the end of another year, I will be able to look back and say that this process has changed me into something more like the person God is calling me to be.