I think this is one of the things that draws me most to religion in general and to Christianity in particular. I want there to be something bigger and harder to understand than myself in my life, and I'm not talking about my car or my furnace.
According to my concordance, the word "mystery" (including its cognates "mysteries" and "mysterious") occurs 38 times in the Old and New Testaments combined. (I'm using the New American Standard Bible; it's the translation I started reading and I really like it.) That's not a lot, but considering that the words with the really high appearance counts are words like "much," it's not too shabby, either.
I need a God I can't understand. I crave mystery.
I think some people feel the opposite way, but for me, "knowing God" doesn't mean understanding Him. I can't fathom the vastness of space, or how gravity works, so I'm perfectly happy in my acceptance of God as mysterious and infinite.
Paul speaks of the "mystery of the faith" in 1 Timothy 3:9 (see, concordances are handy! I love being able to look stuff up) and that's what I feel about my own faith. It's a mystery, and I don't know why I feel the way I do, but it's nonetheless real, and I feel that I was meant to feel this way.
...I don't need a concordance to tell me that I over-used "feel" in the last paragraph, but I'm going to let it stand.
While I'm on the subject, there's a fabulous Judeo-Christian arts quarterly called Image that's just gorgeous. On the masthead are the words "Arts - Faith - Mystery"; I love that the intersection of those three inspires so many people. Check it out if you've a mind to.
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Thoughts of someone new to faith but not to life
About Me
- k.
- I am person-shaped. I have a job, an apartment, a cat, a car, and a shiny new(ish) faith that makes it a joy to get up in the morning. When I am passionate about something, I tend either not to be able to shut up about it or not to be able to string two coherent words together. I am frustrating and full of contradictions, but my heart's in the right place (left side of my chest). I make dumb jokes about important things. It's nice to meet you. And yes...I know my blog has a silly name.
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3 comments:
I like how in Greek the word for "sacrament" is "mysterion" - i.e. mystery.
That's lovely. I should have known that, but if I did, I can't remember.
I took a semester of Ancient Greek in college, and we read part of the New Testament, but very little has stuck with me.
When I was homeschooling the kids, I taught sixth graders a year of New Testament Greek. It was pretty funny - I was essentially reading 2-3 weeks ahead of the students. But at least they learned their Greek alphabet and a lot of Greek roots ...
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