The Chapter about Spirituality...

Last Sunday, in my Seeing Gray Sunday School class, based on the book by Adam Hamilton, we talked about the chapter on "The Messy Truth About Spirituality."  The bottom line of the chapter...we are all sinners saved by grace.  From those considered the "greatest" to those considered the "least"...the icons of the faith...the heroes of the Bible...we are all basically in the same boat.

We talked about authors who have impacted us the most.  Max Lucado came to mind first for me.  Max has helped me understand some very vexing spiritual issues...using simple word pictures a child could understand.  Although there are points of theology where I vehemently disagree with him (an eternal hell for example) he has impacted my spiritual life greatly.  Phillip Yancey is another author we talked about.  In Reaching for the Invisible God he says:

As one who writes and speaks publicly about my faith, I have also learned to accept that I am a "clay vessel" whom God may use at a time when I feel unworthy or hypocritical.  I can give a speech or preach a sermon that was authentic and alive to me when I composed it, even though as I deliver it my mind is replaying an argument I just had or nurturing an injury I received from a friend.  I can write what I believe to be true even while painfully aware of my own inability to attain what I urge others toward.

I came across a related thought on a blog called Ethereal Existentialism in a post called One Person's Trash:

I wrote that people (which would include me) continue to write about the same 5 or 8 things over and over because someone may happen along who needs to hear or read exactly what we happen to be writing about. While that's true, I certainly didn't mean to imply that I was a wisdom-dispensing guru who has it all together passing out tidbits for the poor slobs who are completely lost.

I write about what I learn because God told me to. This is stuff I'm learning...today, every day...constantly.

I can relate to what he is saying.  I write about what I learn.  I can't not write about it which is why I think "God told me to."  My hope is that every once in a while, what I write might be exactly what someone needs to hear.

As a side note...I ran across Adam Hamilton's blog this morning.  There are quite a few of his sermons there...dating back to 2007.