Currents of Faith: Open and Unfolding Reflections

I now move to how theology has informed my faith, focusing specifically upon areas which have been central to the Christian faith: Scripture, Jesus, Christ, Evil, Salvation, Forgiveness, Prayer, Death and Judgment. I begin with the Bible.

Not since Earth Day 1970 has there been one that bore more promise. 1970 was the year when the American public recognized that the human treatment of the rest of the world was a matter of profound importance. In the following years Congress past significant legislation and Nixon signed it into law. No doubt there were many corporations unhappy about these developments, but their objections were swept aside. In a few years the opponents were better organized. Environmentalists have largely succeeded in protecting the legislation of the Nixon era from serious weakening, but no further advance has been possible. Other nations soon surpassed us, and the United States became the major obstacle to global progress.

Adrienne and I were driving home from an early September visit with our daughter in Seattle. Two mountain passes separate Seattle and Wenatchee and we had crossed Snoqualmie Pass and were approaching the ascent to Blewett Pass. It was early evening and darkness was setting in. The brightness of the headlights of several cars coming  toward us limited my vision. As the last car went by I noticed movement ahead, some vague figures on the highway. I quickly pumped the brakes, slowing from the speed limit I had been traveling. There loomed in front of us a herd of elk crossing the road. I cried out, “Oh, God,” clenched the steering wheel and jammed the brakes even more forcefully. The tires squealed as we were thrust forward in our seat belts. I could not stop in time. The huge animals were as shocked as we, suddenly startled and blinded by our oncoming headlights.

It is ironic that just as the neo-conservatives have visibly asserted American global rule, and also made us aware that from the beginning American foreign policy has been imperialist in nature, our global reach is receding. Our ability to shape human history is dramatically declining. Since process theologians can never support imperialism, the end of empire is good news.

We all want power. We should not be ashamed of that. Jesus was very powerful, and so were Socrates and Buddha. The question is, what kind of power? Do we want the power to control and limit others, even to injure or kill them? That is not the power embodied in Jesus, Socrates, or Buddha. Their power was the power to inspire, to persuade, to enable, to empower, to liberate to wider horizons, to open minds to the truth, in short, to lead into authentic life. That power is divine. It is the power God exercises in each of us all the time. It is the kind of power God gives us. It is the kind of power of which no one can have too much."