Muddling Paradox - the name...

I've had several people e-mail me in recent weeks about my blog name, so this post is dedicated to describing it's birth and evolution. Both words were introduced into my more regular vernacular as a result of "church" stuff. Muddling is a word that I came across when getting to know some Episcopalians and reading some writings from Episcopal priests and bishops. It is proudly used by many Episcopalians in the United States of America and really has to do with a degree of unclarity - when it isn't clear what should be done in any given situation. The muddling process is best described as a journey. I found this concept of muddling to be so incredibly aligned with how my understanding of Christianity has developed. It's been on my faith journey that I've been "black" and I've been "white", but I have since come to recognize the outstanding amounts of "gray" in almost everything that permeates our lives (and how wonderful it is to see the gray!). Now, this doesn't mean "fence-sitting." The word muddling, in fact, is often used to describe things in the political arena, but it's in the context that Jonathan Bendor would describe, that it deals more with an actual geographic location (right side, left side, middle-of-the-road). Muddling, on the other hand, speaks to me more differently. It's more about abstract than concrete. Our faith journey has moments of sunshine...moments of rain...moments of joy...moments of pain, BUT - if we're really paying attention, then we're sure to notice a perpetual fog that also exists. Less we choose to put ourselves in the place of God and pass judgment, there's really very little we actually know!! Christianity, then, is figuring out which way to muddle.

As for paradox, we learn about paradox in high school for the first time. A paradox is when an apparently true statement leads to a contradiction or a situation that defies logic or intuition. "Paradox Happens" was a phrase I became familiar with when studying Reinhold Neibuhr in seminary. For example, take the often quoted phrase "love thy neighbor as thy self." Is that not in contrast to an armed neighbor actively trying to kill you? If he/she succeeds, you would not be able to love him/her. BUT to preemptively attack them or restrain them is not usually understood as loving.....ah, a dilemma...a paradox. One final thought in trying to encapsulate paradox...The notion is that you lead with a moral God...that in turn leads to a moral theory of atonement...and that in turn leads to the moral life of believers. As individuals could be redeemed, the social order could also be redeemed, but CAN a social order be redeemed? Kierkegaard once wrote, "If you have a place where everyone is Christian, it's a place where no one is Christian."

In conclusion then, I support questioning. I support the journey. I support the notion that perhaps we don't have all the answers. I support the concept that BEING Christian is the most difficult thing - and it's the one thing all proclaimed Christians are called to. I'm a strong believer that muddling is necessary and 'paradox happens.'