Computer operating systems have user interfaces (UI) unique to each manufacturer that at the same time make the OS easier to use, but also limited. This UI is known, I have learned, in some circles as gooey.
I asked a salesman about a certain smartphone the other day and whether or not it was "pure google" or if the manufacturer had gooey on top of it.
Even the pure google phones have their own internal phone address book and other UI considerations. Even they have gooey on it.
It helped me to understand a basic tenet about religion and the Gospel we are often feel compelled to boil things down to from time to time.
We as manufacturers of the Gospel have our own unique user interfaces we overlay our understanding of the basic message of God's relationship to and desires for us.
Let's face it our Gospel has gooey on it.
When we consider the most pure Gospel of them all, there are some user interface limitations.
Jesus was subject to the culture in which he lived. He was limited by the understanding and belief systems of the time into which he was born.
He wouldn't (according to my gooey) have had it any other way.
To be fully human is to be in some way or another constrained.
And so, maybe our lives would be somewhat more connected and our OS more bug and crash free if we embraced one another's gooey instead of trying to seek out pure Gospel or boil it all down to something.
Jesus had his gooey.
We all have our gooey.
I believe the faithful communities of discipleship embrace gooey rather than attempt to eliminate, ignore, or tolerate it.
Even I have gooey on my Gospel.
Why should I expect anything different from you?
No comments:
Post a Comment