Today, I posted the following on Facebook and got an interesting reply:

“The ordination of women is not simply a preferential issue, like we decide music styles. Rather it is deeply rooted in a theology of God, a theology of his Triune nature, and theology of His Gospel.” - Courtney Tarter

The reply was, "I have no idea what that means." At first I was appalled that the reader did not understand! I mean seriously... this is quite a simple quote, right?

Well, as a pastor whose life is found ruminating on theological chunck and tibits, I sometimes quickly forget that not everyone is traveling with me, reading the same books as I am (or understand the context of sentences that I may have pulled out of a paragraph, which is located in a chapter, which is embedded in a book) or even in the same place spiritually or theologically as I am.

The beauty of my family is that we have a shared language, shared values, and a shared way of seeing our values lived out. You step into our home and you will have a uniquely Vroom experience (sprinkled with a healthy dose Van Dyken as well). We make accomodations to guests in our home so that they know how things run. We show them where the bathrooms are, give them a cup of coffee, glass of wine, or can of Pepsi and invite them into the comfort of our kitchen or back deck. If it was the summer we would walk down the our gardens and show you what we love to do as a family. After an amazing meal, we would recline with some expresso or just a plain cup of joe.

After repeated times of being in community with us you would start feeling quite at home. You would know where the water glasses are, you would have certain refridgerator rights and grab yourself a drink on your own, you would move from an observer to a participant. You would feel at home with our customs and our language. You would become family!

One of the things I am more and more grateful for is that since we are traveling together and growing up into Christ as a covenant community, our church family does share much of the same language, theological convictions, and vision! We do talk differently than others. We do work out our convictions differently than other covenant communities. 

So, it should not catch me by surprise when I hear from fellow Christians, "I have no idea what that means." We may not be in the same place... and that is ok. We may have a a slightly different theological dialect or perspective... and that is ok, too! My response should heed James 1:19 "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak..." 

Thoughts?