You—Yes, You—Are A Theologian
My Dear People,
Once upon a time a monk was on the hunt for some watercress. What a lovely scene. Well, that is, until Brother Godfrey found himself sinking: sinking into the dark thickness of the swamp where he had gone to hunt for watercress, sinking up to his hips, and for going on near thirty minutes at that. When all was said and done, a truck hoist had to be brought in to extract the monastic from his muck. In his Christmas letter for the year, Brother Godfrey Diekmann--a renown Benedictine teacher, scholar, and liturgist--wrote that, after more than half a century as a monk, "what bothers me is that, during the entire ordeal of about twenty-five minutes, I didn't have a single pious thought!"
Brother Godfrey, even in his exasperation, models for us a calling that we all have: the calling to be theologians, from the Greek theo for God and logos, which, in this context, means "the study of." Yes, a calling that we all have, to be theologians, to be "studiers" or students of God, of who God is, of what God does, and of what God has to do with us.
We can sometimes think of theology as the purview of specialists, of, say, ordained clergy and seminary professors. And theology can sometimes begin to seem obscure or abstract. And this is not a new impression. In the medieval period theologians were mocked for spending their lives pondering such things as how many angels could balance on the head of a pin. Read: theologians indulge in intellectual games that have nothing to do with the real lives of real people. While this was and is hyperbole, it gives expression to a sense that we ourselves may have, whether consciously or not: that theology is for experts, and that theology, beyond some very vague basics, may well be personally irrelevant, i.e., that theology is not something that is actually very important to my life.
As Brother Godfrey would remind us, with his admirably frank confession, theology is indeed about real people living real lives. Indeed the earthiness of his story gets to the very heart of Christian theology: the Incarnation. By taking on human flesh, the Son of God was saying, not only do I love you beyond measure, I also take a very real interest in the fullness of your lives, with all the beauty that comes along with that, as well as with all the grittiness.
You--yes, you--are a theologian. You are called to theological reflection as much as anyone, collar or not, PhD or not. The truth is, we are all theologians, regardless of how aware or not we are of this vocation. So why not claim this vocation that is ours and give ourselves over to it with purpose?
I don't know what insights Brother Godfrey arrived at after his swamp muck experience, but I have faith that, having intentionally chosen to reflect theologically--having said "yes!" once again to his vocation to be a student of God--that he was and is all the more likely to find, as faith assures us, the grace that is buried somewhere in the muck.
With prayers for you in this Easter season,
your fellow student of God, and brother in Christ
Wallace+
