a post resurrection story

 It is Easter night and I have been thinking about Jesus'post Resurrection stories. One in particular- the one where his former disciples go back to what they were before he turned their lives , as well as hopes and dreams, upside down. Maybe you remember it too. The one where they decide to go night fishing. The one where while they are headed home with empty nets, no fish, and less sleep. They get a tip from a stranger on shore. A tip that results in a net full of fish. So many the net nearly broke. But that isn't the part that I have been thinking of. I have been thinking of the breakfast the fisherman had on shore. That and the conversation that went along with it. It is that conversation in which Jesus asked Peter if he loved him more than the things around  Peter's life that catches my attention . We read it in John 21:9-17

 There are several things in that scene that I notice
   1] Jesus cooked and fed them. The resurrected Son Of God still acted the servant.
   2] Jesus broke the silence among them. The text seems to indicate that they at in silence. I would say that this is so typical male but I have a feeling none of them wanted to speak out of fear. Or shame.  Or maybe not wanting to allow them selves to hope in Jesus again.
    3] The question that Jesus asked of Peter is deeper than most translations give.  Jesus spoke Aramaic, a combination of Greek/Hebrew, so the phrase almost reads do you breath in what I meant to you on a moral/social level? In other words, do [did] my words have an impact on your life?

 That is something I want to dwell on here. I have been learning in my relationship with Wonder, that love is more than some four letter word centered around how I feel. Love is actually something that changes how a person thinks . I know that to true in my life. Because I love Wonder I have had to become more open to how I think about her feelings. I make more choices with that as a template.  and so;because I love Jesus/God I have to become more open to how I think about them. I make life choices according to that template.  Jesus asked Peter a question at that breakfast as a way of pointing out that Peter had to change the way he had previously thought out Jesus. To make choices about his life according to that new template that was drawn out by the gospel [  see Luke 14/Isa 61] Christ had lived out and tried to teach his disciples. This ,to mw, is just one of those post Resurrection stories that I can't let go of.

Resurrection

Three days after the sacrifice,

three days gone in borrowed tomb

before the Glory, of the later story,

A garden scene with the Magdalene.

The Savior spoke with the lady apostle.

Don't touch me, He said, I haven't been home yet.

I've been through Hell, and I need to heal.

For now it is enough to know,

I am alive, and Death is dead.

A Somewhat Brief Explianation

When I last blogged I was trying to get across one of my main idea I have learned on my journey is that we all have a theology of some sort. I don't see theology as a mere study of (or a defining of)'God” because A] God isn't something easily studied or defined. B] once we do d set out to study or define 'God” we then lessen the mystery of the unknown God. Granted we can try to understand 'God”; in fact, I have a feeling that is part of our reason for being but that is merely my opinion. My contention still remains that any real Theology we employ is not is't what we learn [learned] in Sunday or Sabbath School. If that is the case,and I think it is for many Christians who occupy the pews on a weekly basis,then a lot people have a shallow and unreasonable view of God and that reflects in the choices they make in our daily lives. Because how we think about God is reflected in our life choices. ( I have to point out here that I don't think I have an exclusive hold on the TRUTH or some clever interpretation of Scripture. All I have is a desire to be authentic as a Believer and Christ follower- no more,nothing less. I do have a quibble with those who think they have 'God' figured out.... theologians.... because if you figure 'God' out the you out him/her/them in a box.)

Before we go much further there re some things here you have to understand some thing. These are some ,but not all,of my underlying assumptions about Life,Theology, and God. First off, we – Humans are creations of an all knowing, all powerful God, who we are trying to understand who or what God is. Secondly, because we are created we are really spiritual beings captured in space and time. We know instinctively that we are not meant for just this life but something more.

I don't think I am to afar afield here in saying that because I have noticed that many human beings tend to interpret the world around them on how we where raised, the culture that surrounded us then as well as the one that surrounds us now. Our biases, preconceived notions, coupled with our willingness to grow intellectually or not.(I think we have to at least challenge ourselves in that area. A belief not shared by everyone, I know. Of course if you are reading this then I assume that you are not one of them) Using our words,thoughts,and ideas, symbols and imagery,we make language to share our interpretations of the world around us. Religion is one form of language. It is the presence of,or the lack of it, plays into our interpretations. We humans are at our very core of ourselves spiritual people . What we believe shapes how we act. Our beliefs tend to come through in our politics as well as our attitudes towards other people. We write stories, make art, tell tales, type blogs; all in the hope of expressing our interpretation of the life around us. Life is about interpretation. We interpret things all the time, every day. Our interpretations come from our journey on which we discover the Creator and who or what that is.

This does raise some interesting questions. Like first of who is this GOD person. Is He(or She) a person at all? Or some thing wholly other? Do they even care about us humans? How shall we know? Can we even know? Should we even try to know? So I guess I will begin by laying out some of my assumptions about God and theology,and refer to them as 'God Thoughts” since that is what theology is – what we humans think about God and how Life relates to Him/Her/It.

We seem to have the most difficulty not in our differing beliefs but the differing language we use to try to express our interpretations based on our beliefs. I believe that we ( myself included) all have a valid interpretation about the life we know. We just see things differently. That is what makes relationships interesting. Our differences. If we all thought the same life would be boring, unchallenged, ineffective. For example, what if Copernicus or Columbus just went along in life not questioning the traditional interpretations? We would still think that the Universe revolves around the Earth and the Earth is still flat. ( My apologies to my TEA Party friends- sorry to burst your bubble). We should treasure and value our differences. We human beings are try to break out , as it were,by becoming creators ourselves ( I deliberately used this term with lower case 'c' because I believe, or assume, that is part of our human existence being made in the image of God. We try to be creators our selves through Art, Architecture, Theater, cities.) 

Lately I have been thinking about theology and how it touches our lives daily. I have come to understand that theology itself is not some dry academic subject but it is something vital and relevant to our everyday living. It doesn't matter if you are particularly religious or not. Theology is not just a study of a particular interpretation of 'God'. Theology is ,however, our understanding of 'God'. We all use a theology- what we think about 'God'. or We all think about God in some form or fashion so this is for any and all of us who have ever had thoughts about 'God', the existence of' God', the nature of 'God'. Because we have all thought about “God” at one time of the other even if we have chosen to believe that there is no 'God'. We might just believe in the general goodness of humanity or that we are just merely dust motes tossed about by the breeze created by an uncaring, unknowable “God' or that Mickey Mouse is ' God'. We still believe. We believe because we, that is humankind, are at our very core believers. We are hardwired, if you will, to believe in something wecause we can simply not believe. No matter how hard some may try the fact remains that we humans believe are inclined to believe. That is something we cannot change. You may want to argue that you someone who is skeptical about everything . Someone who believes in nothing. But that isn't true for no one can be truly skeptical about everything. Nor can anyone really believe in nothing. That is not possible. The fact still remains that we believe in something. That is just how it is.

I am curious,[ I suspect you are too] about why I am here and for what purpose, if any. I imagine that is what one could call a universal question. Life. It is organic. It grows on you, in you,through you. Maybe that is what is important to me. The realizing that Life is all around me. It is Spiritual,Political,Social all wrapped up like a big tangled ball of string. Life touches us on all sides and we have to choose to live it. An author I admire a lot has written that it is all spiritual, meaning our lives, and I agree with him. You may not and that is OK. Life goes on.

Maybe I have passed the point of being interesting and leaped into just being esoteric. My apologies.I am just trying to provide a framework for further discussion within the TC. 

NO Virgina. I haven't forgotten I have a blog

HI there,
 Just a shout out to any and all who have chosen to follow my blog. I have been a little lax this week with  blogging. More like procrastinating really I had planned on doing the TC as a thrice weekly. We all know how well that worked out, So I have come up with a solution of doing this a weekly blog for now.  I think that will work for now as I find my footing as to the direc tion the TC will take. I really don't wasn't to plan things out all that much . I have been finding out that the journey unplanned is much more sanctifying. But having a destination will keep this on track . Anyhow----start  looking for more of the TC on Mondays.

*****RE-LAUNCH*******

Welcome to the Tricycle Chronicles. Why is it called that you wonder? This will take some explaining so bear with me. One of my earliest childhood memories is that of the late 60s T.V. Show Laugh In . On that show was a recurring gag that had an adult man on a child's trike pedaling hard to get where he was going only to get there and fall over, trike and all. I remember it being pretty funny, but then again I was about 7 or 8 back then. As I grew older the gag took on an irony for me. Because I felt like that man. I became a Christian at a very young age ans my faith has always been my guide but it felt like I was that guy pedaling furiously on that trike only like him to have the trike fall over on me when I reached my destination.

The tricycle metaphor in my life took on a n even deeper meaning when I entered the world of the Internet, and chat rooms, when I turned 40. I actually started out as a chatter named CyberSaint. I had chosen that moniker because I had thought I was going to bring enlightened Christianity to the wild west of the Internet. As CyberSaint I was going to help spread the Gospel – as I understood it- and enlighten those of differing viewpoints with my intellectual brilliance. After a time as I got to know other chatters I saw that CyberSaint morphed into cyBie; a fun loving, trike riding,child-like persona who wanted to enjoy Life and Love God without all the harsh rhetoric of a particular set of doctrines. CyBie was the precocious kd unafraid to question what he was told was TRUTH. CyBie was the one who would stand up on his tricycle seat and demand to know why it as so. He was the one who got me thinking again that real TRUTH began with the saying ' I Don't Know'.

I started to learn that we all have a voice in this story and a part to play. That while there are absolute truths I have learned it is OK to question,in fact sometime it is necessary to do even if it gets you in trouble with the established order of things. So through cyBie I have been pedaling on a different path than I had been previously been. It was a path where I began to really meet God. I am still on that path and I have met some interesting people who have shared part of the journey with me. I have learned from them. I am still learning. So now as part of my journey I am blogging, something I have avoided because it deems that blogging was self indulgent; pretentious even. Why would I have the gall to think I have something of value to say. Or worse yet , why would I think that anyone would what to read anything I have to say?

Why indeed? I don't know. I really don't have a good answer. But I here I am writing a blog. If you like it good. I hope that you stick around to join me in the conversion about Life, the Universe and Everything. Actually I don't plan on being that heady. I do plan on writing about God, my changing understanding of God,which which can also be translated as Theology but don't let that scare you.

All Theology is,simply put, are peoples thoughts about God and how it affects their lives (whether they know it or not) .Theology to be more than the academic study of ' God' but that Theology is more practical than that. How we think of ' God ' tends to reflect how we live. And I have to see that God( and Theology as well) is bigger than politics. But both have a place in our lives. We make most of our decisions according to our theology even if we don't have a particularly orientated theology. The fact remains we all have a theology based on our understanding of God' and how we expect 'God' to behave. And we make our choices with what particular theology we hold. Some of us have a concrete,finite idea of 'God' while others are less inclined to be as definite. Those who are not even sure there is a 'God' still have a theology. Where ever you are at the path your faith has taken you , you have a theology. Thats just it – Faith as a journey. Some people have forgotten that, or sadly some never learn that is what Faith should be. They go through Life think that Faith should be concrete, unquestioned, unchallenged. I contend that a Faith unchallenged ,unquestioned, concrete is not really a Faith worth having. That is a part of the journey,and coversheet,I want to share. Question are OK. They are important and ultimately the answers lie with in God. It the questions about as well as the questions of God that help us define the answers which leads us to a better understanding of God. Of course sometimes it is like the 5 blind men in a dark room trying to describe and elephant to each other. Their perceptions were different but still valid. I like to think that is true as I pedal along this path with fellow seekers. I hope you join me.