A frustrating point of being stuck

Sometimes theology feels more like sculpting than building. At the beginning, there may be a rough image of what the finished product will look like, but there is trial and error along the way until something beautiful emerges. I started with a broken metaphor and tried to make it work, even though I knew that there is no adequate place from which to launch a ground-up theology. Maybe I am just not a disciplined enough systematic thinker to really take on such a task, or maybe it is just not a compelling way to approach the broad topic of writing about God. There is a paradox at every turn and every theological statement is a profound mystery, especially when the prime reference point, the at once fully human and fully divine Jesus Christ, is so befuddling.

Do we really need a three-fold God; at once filled, emptied, and out-poured? Has the modern/postmodern world made such philosophical mysticism obsolete? Maybe no one cares for complex speculations about abstract concepts. They do not put food on the table and do not directly impact our lives. We want concrete and certain truth. If it does not fit into our personal construction of reality, we either take it on faith to be true or reject it out of hand, there is no middle ground, no room for mystery, no patience for paradox. How can these things possibly be compelling when we are all so distracted by survival or fulfilling our insatiable appetites? I believe that God speaks to this condition. I believe that God calls us to something more than survival and consumption. I believe that how we think about and talk about God is important if we are to find true meaning in life.

I know that this is a rant stemming from my own personal frustration. I am in good company with Qoheleth, the author of Ecclesiastes, who saw the pointlessness in all things. This is where I am stuck right now, on Jesus Christ, kenosis, and the Trinity. These are important persons and concepts to me and my faith. There is not room in all the world for all the books that could be written on any one of these ideas and so I am frantically swimming in a deep ocean of theology. Mostly, I want my ideas to be compelling and I want to make something profound and beautiful that others can easily engage with. Blogging for me always seems to be an endless and unfocused work in progress. Maybe I will find a clear and concise way forward for my ideas.