the friesen blog

My wife Leanne is doing a Master’s thesis on empowering women in the church and she read a book called She Who Is by Elizabeth Johnson.  This quote that Leanne read for me has mystified me for a few days now.  I have so many thoughts but want to see what others think about the idea of speaking of the Divine only in adverbs.  Check out the the last sentence, I feel that sentence gives expression to my some of my experience.    

“God as Being not only is, but more quintessentially lets be, not in the sense of ignoring creatures or of leaving them alone but by saying “Let there be,” that is, by empowering, enabling, bringing them into being.  Since a noun presupposes that we comprehend what we are referring to, cautions Abraham Heschel, we should avoid nouns in speaking of the nature of God.  Rather, since awareness of God dawns only in encounter, our words should bespeak a relationship that results from being sought, pursued, called upon.  We therefore have no nouns by which to describe the divine essence; we have only adverbs by which to indicate the ways in which God approaches us.

Verb, predicate nominative, participle, adverb, being that lets be – such language strains and breaks its bounds attempting to express the inexpressible fullness of Holy Wisdom’s nature, pointing to eternal mystery so profound and absolute that some mystics can even name being eternal Nothingness.  Being itself does not define divine being, which is always and everywhere beyond definition.  Insofar as this consistent negation invalidates nothing except the limits of the affirmations we make about being, it actually can give off a little light.  For the not-knowing that comes at the end of thought pursued to its limits is actually a deeply religious form of knowing.”

Elizabeth A. Johnson. She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse. (New York: A Crossroad Herder Book, 1999), 240.

What do you think?

I love the line in the Douglas Coupland book, Life After God, where he writes climactically, "I have a secret to make, I need God."  Recently, in a similar yet slightly different context, I feel like the secret that I need to confess is, I need relationship.  Or, I need to value relationships more.  I sense that God is softening my heart towards valuing the relationships that I have. 

Part of this has come in me recently finding a church community where I can pour myself into without worrying so much about paying bills.  Part of this arises out of the relationship I have with Leanne.  As our relationship continues to blossom, I feel alive to share the beauty of relationship with others.  (One could try to find a way to explain this with Maslow's terms.)  I think another reason for this heightened sensitivity to the power of relationship comes out of a new found appreciation for different seasons of relationships.    

I have had the opportunity to make some great friends from all over the place and I have often felt defeated at having to 'abandon' some great relationships because of a geographic move.  No doubt many have felt abandoned by me.  I do hope that there can be healing for those relationships.  I also recognize that relationships go through seasons and I want to value relationships through those seasons.

The more I think about this the greater the list of reasons why I want to grow in valuing relationships.  Ultimately though, the Triune Creator is relationship in nature and being.  That is, God is both three and one.  When we talk about, worship and meditate on God we are in relationship with the One who is relationship in its fullness.  My prayer is that I will grow into that reality, whatever that means or looks like.   

Today I begin blogging.  I am a bit apprehensive.  Not because I am afraid that I will run out of things to write about.  Not even because I am unsure if anybody will connect or enter into dialogue with any of these thoughts.  Rather, in my more cynical moments, I wonder if blogging, for me, is an indulgence?  Self-promotion?  Rambling?  Art?  Dialogue?  Conversation?  What is blogging all about? 

For me there is an issue of the medium itself.  Thanks to an interest in McLuhan in my undergrad, I can’t help but throw each medium through a series of questions.  I will admit that I have some Luddite tendencies.  Then there is the issue of motives.  I am completely open to admitting that most, if not all, of my motives are tainted.  Nevertheless, I trust that God redeems my motives.  And I have increasingly been haunted by the sentiment of Henri Nouwen that God calls us to irrelevancy.  But that leads to other issues.

So here I go, blogging, blogging, blogging.  Let me know what you think. 

I do hope that this is a medium where we can dialogue about spirituality, art, media, the Kingdom of God, music, story, philosophy, relationship, and connection.

peace

dallas