"I remember an old story that as a young man, I thought I would win the world to Christ. As a middle aged man, I thought I would win a few to Christ. As an old man, I hope to win myself to Christ."
I love reading the early church fathers, patristic history, spiritual exegesis of scripture, and I'm enjoying Jason Byassee's book, "Praise Seeking Understanding." This book reminds me of my own spiritual journey of struggling with doubt, using doubt in service of my faith, to faith seeking understanding, and finally, to know a life of praise that goes beyond even understanding.
One of the great truths from reading the Psalms with Augustine and getting to know the mind of the early church fathers is understanding the spiritual end of Scripture where the literal only touches the surface of biblical meaning but it certainly does not take us very deep into the world of the Bible. Can we learn the skills to discern the mystery of Christ on every page of Scripture as the Fathers did? It is so easy today in our modern world and comfortable church life to ignore or miss mystery and try to avoid the difficulties within the biblical texts. We desire clever reading strategies to avoid the hard sayings of Jesus in the pages of Scripture.
The mystery of Christ helps us see things and live in such a way that is different and even in conflict with the ways of the world. As we enter into holy week, Christians are drawn into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and are even called into an ascended life "with Christ." When we read the scriptures with the early church fathers, we see patterns, types, and spiritual figures that unfold the mystery of knowing Jesus in a greater way. When this begins to happen, nothing can remain the same because Christ himself draws us into his created order in ways where there simply is no turning back.
The mystery of Christ takes us into a mystical encounter with him every day. Jesus can no longer be a distant stranger or a long, lost friend who is uninvolved in our lives. They mystery of Christ reveals Christ for everyone and in everything. While we are busy amusing ourselves to death, Christ is waiting and always present to us. Christ can no longer be shut up in church buildings but God's people must go to the streets and the darkest corners of their neighborhoods. And what others see and discover is not some belief in Christ, there is nothing mysterious about that. What people begin to understand is we belong to Christ as we live in the beauty and mystery of His love.
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