My Theological and Ministerial Identity

I would be atheist except I believe as a human being, it is not possible for me to claim anything in the absolute because my capacity to understand the full and true nature of life and this universe is too limited. Therefore, I am agnostic about everything.

What is more, I enthusiastically embrace the mystery and love to speculate upon the nature of our existence. I am not a believer in a guy-in-the-sky deity, nor have I found any systematic theology that satisfies all my questions. I suppose then, my theology is grounded in human experience.

I do believe, beyond doubt, that the arc of the moral universe is long, and it bends toward justice (Theodore Parker), and that if collectively, we as human beings could fully live out our 7 Principles, we could create a heaven on earth which Martin Luther King, Jr. described as Beloved Community. As MLK said, Beloved Community is not a eutopia but a world in which we humans cause each other little grief, and a world in which we humans cause our planet little grief. I believe beyond doubt, it is possible to make of this earth and our existence a Garden of Eden. Whether we can ever manage it is questionable, but it is the possibility that gives me hope and a higher purpose and constitutes my faith. The practice of my faith by and large is justice-seeking and being in right relationship with others.

There is another aspect of practicing my faith that involves my interior or spiritual life. For me, there is a mystery about our individual being and how we each seem to come into this world with a deep self that exists beyond language, personality, ego, and physical attributes. Parker Palmer refers to this deep self as our shy soul. He says the existence of this deeper self is reflected in how much we love babies – because as innocents we are never closer to being the person we were meant to be in this world. My spiritual practice hence is to

meditate so that in quiet, egoless moments, I might hear what my shy soul or still, small voice has to say. I speculate that this deep-self aspect of our human existence might somehow be connected to some divine aspect - perhaps what Hindus describe as the Atman. The mystery remains but I find the practice restorative and on rare occasion, enlightening.