Credo 8-24-2020

 

Credo 8-24-2020

                I am continuing my journey through some of the insights that I glean from William Coffin. Even though many of these comments come after, in some cases 50 years, I still find them to beneficial. Today I wanted to share two of them from the Chapter Life in General.” The pursuit of truth rightly implies that a gap exists between ourselves and truth. But what’s hidden and evasive? Is it we or truth? Maybe it is we who evade truth’s quest for us…. Relationships—not facts and reason—are the key to reality. By entering those relationships, knowledge of reality is unlocked (Parker Palmer).” Truth is often difficult to ascertain because it can become at times truth is what I make of it. So the real question about truth is that it is what I make of it. I find the statement by Parker Palmer to approximate a closer understanding of the truth that it is not my interpretation but what I find in relationship of others.

                So, I am left with what is the truth. When Jesus came before Pontius Pilate before he was condemned, he said “What is truth? (John 18:38).” Pilate was in the presence of truth but could no see it as it did not conform to what he believed about truth. For him and for many of us, truth is defined by power, economics, and the people that we tend to hang with. Palmer has some insight but ultimately truth, at least for me, lies with Jesus. It is not based on the sound bits of social media, headlines, and opinionated others rhetoric, but on the gospel of God and Christ.  And maybe Coffin is right that it is me that evades truth’s quest. For if we seek the truth, that means are I am going to be moved by the truth as it seeks me out. The ultimate truth is Christ and to respond to that means that I need to begin to live my life more Christ-like. And that dear readers is often easier said than done.

                So, as we live out the commands of Jesus, we can approximate the truth. Those commands come back to loving God with all we have and to love our neighbor. Surround oneself with relationships that seek that same. Find those who care about the truth of Christ and be together. Study scripture and other writings that build one another up as well as the community in which we live. Pray for discernment of God’s Will not just ours. Who knows what that truth might bring?

Shalom