Mystery

How comfortable are we with mystery?

I was reading Hoyt Hickman’s book, Worshiping with United Methodists.  As he spoke about communion, he called it a Holy Mystery.  “Ultimately, the communion (koinonia) we have with God and one another in Jesus Christ is a mystery.”  He lists several times in the Bible that the word mystery is used.  I like the last one especially.  “We are ‘stewards of God’s mysteries.’” (1 Cor. 4:1).

“When a pastor or other ordained minister presides at this holy table in the name of Christ, she or he is a steward to whom is entrusted a sacred responsibility to pass on to the congregation a treasure that is beyond the understanding of any of us....None of us is so wise to have plumbed the depths of the mystery.”

How comfortable are we with that idea?  Are we able to rest in the idea that we are not wise enough to understand the holy mystery - communion or even any other part of our faith?

I think sometimes we act as if the faith is plain.  Easy to understand.  Black and white.  Right in front of our face. 

Sometimes it is.  Love God. Love your neighbor.  It’s simple enough to understand (not really simple to do, but that’s another story).  I’m glad Jesus said it was THE commandment.

What do we have to give up when we rest in the idea of mystery?  That God is too complex for us to understand, and none of it is simple?  We have to give up our pride, I think.  We have to give up judging others.  We have to let go of the idea that we have the answers and someone else doesn’t.  And we have to give up the idea that we are right. 

Are we comfortable in the mystery?