Irreverent

I'm leading a retreat in Idaho for a Lutheran camp this winter. The program director just asked me to define what I mean when I refer to myself as "deeply irreverent". This is what I said.

Ha! I love this question. I have had such a vastly bizarre faith journey. My life settles gently yet firmly on a trust that God holds all things in God's unique way, meaning I have no assumptions that I have God figured out in any way. The massiveness of what Christ symbolizes for me reveals, I believe, only a fraction of the audacity of God's ability to always move toward us. Because I know I have nothing figured out I also have an occasionally vulgar sense of humor about what I imagine God's perspectives of us might be. My irreverence comes from a deep and embodied distrust in anyone or anything claiming to be "right". I also swear a little too much...*grin* but I try to keep it in check most of the time. I think irreverence means being able to say simply, "here's my best guess...if you can't see that we're all just trying our best to figure all this stuff out maybe you should take off your stone casting outfit and go shopping."