(#2) John 14 Sermon: Wikitheology

(This is the second post in a Sermon on John 14:15-31. Do me a favor and read the passage first, and maybe the previous post.)

There is a website called Wikipedia. It’s an online encyclopedia. And the incredible thing about it is that anyone can click on the 'edit' button and edit any article. So for example, there will be hundreds of people right now trying to edit the page on George W. Bush.

Now, I’m not (too) serious with what I am about to say. My tongue is lodged firmly somewhere near my cheek. But I reckon that most of us are suffering from what you might call 'Wikitheology' (h/t Tom Beecroft. Google it Here).

Wikitheology is this: Each of us are trying to put together a page of things we hope are true about God; things we believe; truths that give us hope.

But just about everyone else (My denominational past, my work, the media, my friends, my church, my mom and dad) are all pressing 'edit', 'edit', 'edit'. And so we’re not sure what to believe. For goodness sake, I’m pressing 'edit' now as I speak!

And its tiring for many of us. And the problem is this: the one who presses 'edit' the most gets my devotion. Or its a mixture of just about every book I read, every church I've been too or every person I meet. And I keep trying to find some middle ground that captures everything that everyone has said to me. But it simple doesn't work.

Some are just so tired that recently there has been a trend to become Roman Catholic. They do this because at least Catholics appear – and I stress the word appear – to have unity. Or we dumb down entirely and say: 'Well, I’m just a Follower of Jesus, and I just base my life on the gospels'; not realizing, of course, that people who say this have brought baggages of theology with them.

And the bottom line is this:

I want God to come to me and tell me what is true about him, that I might believe the truth about him and know him as he really is.

So, what word can we speak into this 'Holy Clutter'?

More to come...