Recklessness and Playfulness

In Eugene Peterson's book Reversed Thunder, he bemoans the careful language we sometimes use when we talk about God. We are wary of saying more than logic can verify, or misspeaking and exposing ourselves as nonsensical. The pressure is real when we believe that every word we choose will somewhere reveal a hidden truth about our salvation, and we take great care to avoid the mistakes we ourselves have critiqued and even poked fun at.

Another misstep, Peterson acknowledges, comes when we let our language about God slide into pious fantasies, speaking only the careful Christianese that seems safe, expected, unquestioned. "But poets are extravagant and bold, scorning both the caution of the religious philosopher and the earnestness of the ethical moralist," Peterson writes. And the Apostle John is a poet who is pressing us into new ways of thinking about God in the Book of Revelation, not to frighten or shame us but to help intensify our relationship with God:

"[John] is not trying to get us to think more accurately or to train us into better behavior, but to get us to believe more recklessly, behave more playfully -- the faith-recklessness and hope-playfulness of children entering into the kingdom of God. He will jar us out of our lethargy, get us to live on the alert, open our eyes to the burning bush and fiery chariots open our ears to the hard-steel promises and commands of Chris, banish boredom from the gospel, lift up our heads, enlarge our hearts."

Peterson takes the name of his book about Revelation, Reversed Thunder, from a 1600s poem by Welsh poet George Herbert:

Prayer [is] the church's banquet, angel's age,

God's breath in man returning to his pilgrimage,

The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth

Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r,

Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear ...

How bold are you in your faith? How ready are you to be extravagant, to claim words such as "faith-recklessness" and "hope-playfulness" as you allow your prayers to be "reversed thunder," sending back to the Lord your own private tune? As we anticipate week four of our Revelation study together, I hope you will continually ponder how these new lenses can transform the way you live your life today: Expect the unexpected, revel in odd juxtapositions, wonder at the new turns that life seems to take each new week.

May you be extravagant and bold in Christ this week,

Jennie