The Unknowable

Long years ago when I was a student at Candler School of Theology, it was not uncommon to hear a professor speak of us as those who were going out into the world to be the resident theologians in the community.  It all sounded good to green ears.  One of the first things I learned when I reached the parish was that there were a host of folks who knew a great deal about theology.  They just did not talk about it as something learned from a book, or a professor, but from the school of long years of walking the road of faith in Christ.  I realized rather quickly that my education did not put me at the head of the class.  

And even after I have come to the age at which some of those folks had arrived back then, I still sense that I have gotten no closer to knowing enough to merit the title of resident theologian.  Actually, the years have brought me to a place of knowing that there is more to be learned than is going to be learned in this lifetime.  While once it seemed that I knew a lot about God, more recently I have come to the realization that there is more unknowable about Him than knowable.  

Considering the unknowable opens up the realm of holy mystery.  All my life I have heard folks say something like, "You just have to take it on faith,"  and I have come to the conclusion that there is more truth in this viewpoint than ever I wanted to admit.  What I do now fully embrace about my understanding of God is that there is more that is unknowable about Him than what I know as the knowable.  Every day's walk holds the possibility of something new being revealed which helps keep the eyes and ears open to see and hear those things that cannot be seen nor heard.