Take Me Back

There are sometimes when a thread of a past experience finds itself unraveled in the present. That’s how it feels when I listen to some songs. For instance, the song that DJ Alle Farben redid titled “The Night We Met,” which originally was written by Lord Huron and written by Ben Schneider.

It’s still a powerful song even though it went through musical derivatives. I think the line that is most powerful to me is the beginning. I’m in a theological education program. One that inspires me to be inquisitive. And I am very inquisitive about the beliefs we say we believe. I am very inquisitive about the ideals we believed and then created into doctrines and to a degree dogma.

The opening lines of the song strike hard: “I’m not the only traveler who has not repaid his debt.”

Truer words never spoken. I think theologically we all walk around with a debt. It’s never spoken about in the biblical witness. It’s definitely not clear in the things we say such as “the crucifixion is salvation” or “baptism is the mark of salvation”.

What debt was so bad, so very bad that we created a debt that Our God had to die at our hands? What are these misdeeds that we do that we continue to incur a debt? Are they really as easy as:

• we don’t value life?
• we don’t value God’s good creation?
• we don’t value God as the highest priority on our list?
• we question the passion: crucifixion, death, and resurrection of our Triune God?

Are we really just travelers passing through and can’t make that kind of difference to this world? I honestly think why not? Why not just be a traveler that passes by and tries to do things for a change in this world. Why can’t the mark of salvation be that we are created in God’s image to seek justice, love kindness, and be humbly God’s good creation?

“When is it ever going to end?” I ask myself more as a person, why can’t I just say: No. It stops here. My last post talked a little bit about things I want to end or affect. I don’t seek to create change because of my ego or id. I have a big enough ego that makes me question my low self-esteem issues. I want to change things because enough is enough.

God’s good creation, the universe as spoken about eloquently in science, every living and nonliving organism needs to be defended by our darker sides. Needs to be defended by the powers or beings or energies that seek to destroy the goodness that is there. Love needs to win, because I need it to win.

I want to be a responsible traveler like many who have come before me. And like many who will come after me.