Thoughts from the Back Pew
I’ve been in the back pew for longer than I realized. One foot out the door of the church, but never quite willing to take that step. I’m closer to taking it now than ever, but still I hear a strange, small voice. The voice says that the back pew is where good theology happens. At the margins, or in the kitchens (as theologian Kosuke Koyama would say), it’s a little easier to hear the gentle whisper in the wind (I Kings 19:12). I used to assume good theology happened and the pulpit. Sometimes it does. But the best sermon of the Bible is given by a guy who is about to crushed by rocks by a bunch of theological insiders (RIP Steve, Acts 7). I also used to assume that good theology happened at seminaries. Then I went to seminary and the reading lists were permeated by the works of old white guys - just like that every other higher education degree path. When relationships were broken at the last church I attended a few months ago, I let weekend business take over my Sunday