On the debriefing: I didn't save anyone this summer. I may have helped make better disciples out of our kids, but this aspect of evangelism is entirely outside what I call the "decision calculus" of the Evangelical Phenomenon. So I may be a little bit of a fish out of water right now.
Now that we have glossed over debriefing, let's get down to business. Greg wants to hear about Christian faith and religious experience as they relate to my time at Hyaets this summer.
First of all, my experience at Hyaets has probably had a negligible effect on what I have faith in. I still believe in one God, the father and the all- mighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and so on. My experience may have changed how I live my faith. I may be coming up with better answers to the question of "how does someone who proclaims to follow Jesus best live?" But answers to this question are more within the reach of human reason than questions of faith. And human reason is the domain of philosophy and the other sciences.
We now turn to the question of religious experience. The reason I don't like talking about religious experiences are because I'm not sure I have ever had one. I refrain from talking about Jesus and faith-y things not because I'm uncomfortable talking about Him, but because I know very little about Him, other than the account of his life rendered in the Gospel and the fact that I ingest Him by virtue of the Holy Eucharist.
Perhaps I don't pray enough, but God does not interact with me regularly in truly knowable ways.
Take these questions asked in the Personal Debriefing guide that I have been using to guide my reflections this evening. "What has God said to me about life in the place I know live? About my walk with Him? About His heart for the world? About the work in the place I served?" These are as loaded questions as any. They have the same aura of disingenuous prattle associated with statements that begin with "Jesus has laid it on my heart to say," or "God has used me to." How does one KNOW that God said this to you or laid that on your heart or that He used you to do such and such? Hmm? Did he come to you in a dream to pierce you with a flaming spear as he did to St. Theresa? I think not, at least not in the VAST majority of "God said" or "used" or "laid it on my heart" utterances. So what will it take to solve this problem?
I think the problem can be solved simply by pointing out to the Emperor that he has no clothes. Part of my Christian walk has been realizing that God only interferes in the world through mysterious and self-limited ways, such as the Sacraments. Of course, you have genuine mystics within the heirarchy of the Church. But we have to realize that we cannot all be so good. There is not a priesthood of believers, but a body of Christ in which we all have distinct roles. We must not all assume the role of "priest."
That is why I, personally, don't talk about things in Jesus terms.
You can add one to your list of those you saved this summer because YOU SAVED ME! I would not have survived the summer without your help.
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