Idealism

I have a love-hate relationship with idealism. I get all these big ideas in my head about saving the world and then when I realize I can't make much of a large-scale (or sometimes even small-scale) difference I get bitter and cynical. And hanging onto the hope of large-scale systemic change usually prevents me from being part of the small-scale change I can be part of, and, sadly, from really just relishing the moment I’m in now.

Anyhow, I told my boss the other day that next year for lent I thought I should give up idealism. "Hmm...," he said, "that sounds pretty idealistic to me." Drat.

And on a totally unrelated note (or maybe not)... this was a quote from my OT Writings professor, in the course syllabus, which I wanted to share (even though I had no illusions about seminary answering any questions...):

People sometimes comment ruefully that they thought seminary was going to answer their questions but in fact it leaves them with more questions than they had before. One presupposition of this comment is that the key or a key thing about the Christian life is that it means having the answers to questions; and I think that implies that Christian faith is a set of beliefs and answers. I think the Writings can help us see why this is not so.

• They set our lives not in the context of a set of beliefs but in the context of a story, and of some smaller stories, too.
• They set us in a relationship with God - a relationship of praise, lament, trust, repentance, and testimony.
• Thus, they rescue us from the limitations of what we believed already.