The Mystery of God
“Look at the nations and see!
Be astonished! Be astounded!
For a work is being done in your days
that you would not believe if you were told.”
Habakkuk 1:5
The prolific author and Greek Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware passed away last month. His book, “The Orthodox Way,” was eye-opening when I read it years ago. I realized, while reading it, just how little I knew about the Eastern branch of Christianity. It is a rich tradition that is home to millions of Christians.
One of the great aspects of Eastern Orthodoxy is their ability to live in the “grey area.” Westerners love for details to be clear and concise. “Keep things black and white,” so to speak. This is not the case with many Orthodox theologians. For one reason or another, they are much more comfortable with the unknown and the mysterious. Answers are good, and we should spend our life seeking after the God who has decided to reveal Himself to us. At the same time though, we must recognize that we are finite beings seeking after that which is infinite. Bishop Ware in the above-mentioned book said, “We see that it is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery.”
The Church has backed itself into a prickly corner when it is adamant that it has all the answers. It leaves no room for mystery and wonder, and thence, no room for a God that is bigger than our limited human minds.
That doesn’t mean we have no responses to the great questions of the age. The work of theology is to intently study and come to a fuller knowledge of God, but we must recognize that principally, we offer a relationship rather than answers. The Church claims that you can know God as He knows each of us. The relationship takes priority and the questions will naturally be put in their proper perspective.
Even in something as ordinary as Sunday worship, there is something mysterious about the Eucharist. It cannot be explained away. Rather, it must be experienced in its fullness. Mystery is good for the Church, and it is good for our spiritual lives. It will enliven our imagination, broaden our perspective and gives us permission to even say, “I don’t know.”
Will you walk with me into the mystery?
