Theology may be called a form of worship.
I will say it again.
Theology may be called a form of worship.
What music does in worship is more than what music alone is capable of, so it is with study, with understanding. The hearts’ leaning acts as catalyst, but both music and study may be catalyzed.
God is more than a mind, but he is not less than one, to engage him on his own terms is to not seek to understand everything, for how could we, but rather, to endeavor to understand more than we did before.
Worship is the act of engagement, and in a way, disengagement. Engagement of a new way of seeing, disengagement of the old ways. These “old ways,” do not misunderstand me, would not be called tradition, but would be better labeled as “misconception.”
Who God is—this is what engages both heart and mind.
I have no doubt, that the God who created reason would not leave those with a love for the analytical thought processes behind—those with the love of study—with a heart and mind to mine deeper, to see how deep this God goes.
With this is a discipline. Like with any discipline of study, good sources are paramount, and the will to reject a "puffed-up-ness" also. Like love, it is patient and kind.
To experience God is important, to study, equally so. Both are the action of wanting to know more, both are the process of peeling back self and engaging the otherness of God.
Both are the act of extension, past safety, past the safe harbor of the thoroughly understood, to wild waters that will take us far, far past our last anchorage.
The act of peeling back self, and of extending past what was our comfort, requires courage. For when we make space like this, we can feel very small. We are in good company, the wild waters are the realm of Abraham on the mountain with Isaac, Moses at the edge of the sea, or Saul given Pauline sight for the first time.
We are asked to trust. We are asked to learn His ways, this very act begins to resurrect our own.
Past misconceptions now resurrected to bear real concepts, experience and study part now of our worship.
Trust is a wonderfully dangerous activity, it awakens in us new eyes to see, new ears to hear. We set off, we leave the harbor entrance.
We continue on, heart and mind within this new partnership, of the experience and the analytical, in the midst of "theology as worship," this God will reveal things—
experiences that may widen the analytical, analysis to reveal the intentionality and mindfulness of this God. The muscle needing worked out, can and will be.
Note about the Author:
You can follow Seth and his work on instagram @saintbrigand or check him out at saintbrigand.com.
He is a phenomenal artist and a beautiful writer. Here is a brief sample of his work.