The next few entries will be a response to the following article by Rick Wade entitled, Scripture and Tradition in the Early Church at http://www.probe.org/content/view/911/77/

Mystery and the Church Fathers

Enlightenment philosophers taught us to see the world as a collection of scientific facts, to look forward instead of back to the wisdom of the past, and to see the individual as the final authority for what is true. Scripture and Traditions of the Early Church, Rick Wade

It was a Tuesday, the last week of July, 1991. There was a devotion and they were singing Jesus is Lord. I had sung the song a thousand times but that day I heard the gospel for the first time. “He was born to die on Calvary’s tree, to redeem a lost humanity, Conquering death he rose triumphantly, and he reigns through all eternity.”

I was moved that night, I began to cry. It was in that moment that I gave my life to Christ. That I resigned as chief ruler and direction giver.

Why? Because of facts? They were facts that I had heard all my life. It was information that I had repeated myself time and time again. There was something about that night that was a mixture of natural and supernatural, fact and feeling, body and soul.

As I walked away from that moment I vowed to never remove the supernatural from my experience. I kept the story close to my heart because I was raised logically. Facts are what it is all about. Did you do it the right way thinking the right thoughts? I feared that since my experience wasn’t some formula to be consumed that I would be ostracized. So I hid the story, kept it between God and I and a few close friends.

I was confident that day that I would follow after Jesus, not because of my own strength or understanding but because of Him. I committed to believe what the Bible said even when it didn’t seem logical or realistic or possible.

I wanted to pray, not because you were suppose to, but to actually have a spiritual conversation, knowing that to speak to God I needed the Spirit’s voice. I wanted to read my Bible, not because I was suppose to, but because in those pages the Spirit inside of me brought the text to life and fed my soul like nothing ever had.

I wanted something more than the dry lifeless experience of my youth. I wanted to experience something that transcended my existence, because my existence wasn’t good. Yes I went to church, yes I learned the facts, but I did not experience life. Something within believed that without the supernatural none of this made any sense.

I know now why, I understand the false enlightenment belief that we can know it all. That everything is explainable and science is the answer. That the facts were going to fix everything. I don’t blame or point fingers because coming from what they experienced it made sense to them, I just don’t believe it is so.

We live on the other side of that today, and the more we discover the more we know we don’t know. Instead of answering all questions we just find more. For every disease we cure another three come along that we can’t seem to stop.

Facts fall flat. We can only figure out so much, but can we truly return to the mystery of it all? Can we, on the other side of the enlightenment, ever return to a place where the supernatural is embraced? Where spirits and demons exist beyond scary movies?

When you return to the early church you find the natural and supernatural. We see Peter responding to Jesus invitation, not because of what was natural but instead because of the supernatural. Peter new the teachings about the Messiah, but only when Jesus filled their boats with fish did he respond.

Paul knew all of the facts, and yet it is only on a dry stretch of road with a blinding light in his eyes that he believes. It is only the supernatural that pricks his heart. Even the most fact based encounter with Philip and the Eunuch takes place because of the supernatural intervention of an Angel and the Spirit.

The danger we face is losing the facts for the feelings. This is why embracing the church father’s seems the wisest course. They embraced the supernatural without losing the facts. I worry that in responding to the enlightenment we will create a supernatural experience devoid of facts, and without those facts we simply have paganism.

Are we willing to embrace this supernatural mystery in just one profound way? Are we willing to embrace the historic father’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper, or are we more inclined to argue the facts? Are we willing to believe the mystery that it gives us spiritual nourishment? That it imparts grace? That it becomes in some way, that I can’t explain, the body and the blood?

Roll this around in your head and I think you may find how willing you are to jump into the mystery of it all, instead of just creating new ones. May we embrace our supernatural heritage without losing the truth of it all.