Last night I finished reading Out of the Question...Into the Mystery by Leonard Sweet. This book definitely surpassed my expectations and I would recommend it to anyone. Sweet's introductory question, "Where did we miss the person and get the point instead?" pretty much sums up the material the book covers and the problem that most of us, as 21st century Christians face. Whether liberal or conservative, evangelical or mainline, Catholic or Protestant, we share a common problem. Our Modern propensity for propositions has taken us outside the purpose of the gospel. Jesus came on the scene 2,000 years ago and announced a kingdom. What we don't often realize is that kingdom is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ. To be in the kingdom, to be a part of God's plan, is to be in a relationship with that person. At Christmas, we celebrate the incarnation—the ultimate move toward the close relationship that God desires to have with us. Jesus didn't come to give us a new set of rules or instructions, he came to show us the "way, the truth and the life."
This might sound like a bunch of obvious stuff. We've been there, done that for quite awhile. We talk quite a bit about Christianity being a relationship. But Leonard Sweet shows through this book just how much we really don't get what that entails. He has really opened my eyes and helped me to clarify some things that I may have already pondered somewhat.
Here's a quote from the last chapter:
"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. God is not so much the object of our knowledge as the cause of our wonder." (Quoted in The Mystery of the Incarnation by Cardinal Basil Hume, p.66)
I am grateful for the changes God is working in my life, particularly through the pages of this book. I find that I am experiencing a new sense of hope as I move "into the mystery!"
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