Thought for the day – Wednesday 15th July 2020
Krish Kandiah is President of The London School of Theology and Chair of the Theological Advisory Panel for Tearfund. Back in 2014 he wrote a very timely book on the Paradox of Christian Faith. The book was called Paradoxology and honestly acknowledged that Christians will not agree on everything; however, it made clear that it is important to hear each other’s voices even if we do not agree.
To give one example; when we as a Circuit were looking at the report “God in Love Unites us” not everyone agreed on every single point, but there was great value in providing space for people to feel that their voices had been heard.
Thought for the day on the Ipswich Circuit website seeks to offer the same type of sacred space in which people can come as they are and prayfully offer a reflection from their particular view point.
There is great value in hearing all the voices, even if there will be occasions when our theological view point may be quite different. It is quite possible to greatly admire an individual and yet not agree with them on every single point.
This is not to brush differences under the carpet, and sometimes we will need to honestly agree to disagree on certain points.
However, I do believe and you are quite a liberty to disagree, that, as Christians, we need to be sitting with paradox a great deal of the time.
I began this reflection by refereeing to Krish Kandiah’s book Paradoxology. In Chapter 11 Krish reflects upon the Paradox of the Cross. This particular Chapter is simply called “The God who wins as he loses”.
The kingdom of God does indeed frequently turn preconceived notions completely on their head.
I know many occasions in my life when I have not entirely agreed with an individual’s particular point of view on a given subject, but looking at their life as a whole, I have been humbled by their witness and commitment to Jesus. Our human wisdom has its limitations the writer of Psalm 139 reminds us of this in verses 17 and 18 “How weighty, to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
A Prayer
Gracious God,
We stand in owe and wonder of your deep wisdom, your saving grace and power to redeem. You are both God incarnate and deepest mystery. We do not understand fully, we do not always agree, but in you we place our trust.
Amen.