Study guide Talking about God T
By Robert C. Blezard
heology—the study of God—is the lofty name for the practice that all faithful people undertake whenever we try to figure out what it is we think about God and how that determines how we live. Theology is easy to “do” but hard to do in-depth because it requires a comprehensive understanding of the Bible, faith traditions, Christian history, spiritual- ity and human nature. Professional theologians guide us in reaching new insights about God and how to live as God’s people. We can learn from what they say and how they do their craft.
Exercise 1: Your theology What do you believe about God? How does God operate in the world and in your life? How do you under- stand the way that God wants you to live? The interrelated answers to these questions constitute your lived theology. All of us have a lived theol- ogy, which is informed by our church, family and life experiences. • What are the two or three central tenets of your lived theology? • How did you come to those understandings? • Did they evolve over time? Are they evolving now? • Why does our lived theology change as we age? Is that healthy?
Blezard is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Arendtsville, Pa. He has a master of divinity degree from Boston University and did subsequent study at the Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.) and the Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia.
Exercise 2: Your theologians Who are the Christian authors you like to read? Walt Wangerin Jr. or Max Lucado? Beth Moore or Nadia Bolz-Weber? What faith tradi- tions do they come from? What do you get
out of reading their work? When you read any theologian you are working on your lived theology by refining how you think about God and the dif- ference that makes in your life. • Are the ideas of every Christian author-theologian correct and helpful to a Lutheran’s walk of faith? How can you tell? • Why is it important to evaluate wisely the theologians you read and explore? • Is it important to consciously keep working on your lived theology?
Exercise 3: Your favorite Scriptures
People who read the Bible generally have passages they return to again and again—favorite Psalms, stories, characters, books or prophets. • What are your favorites? • What keeps you coming back to these passages? • What do they tell you about who God is, how God relates to you, and how you should live your life? In other words, how do they inform your lived theology? • How did your favorites change as you grew and faced different life challenges? • How does the Bible help you grow as a person?
Exercise 4: Your faith crises Most people find their lived theology challenged during a crisis—such as the loss of a job, a loved one’s death or a chronic illness. • What life events have challenged your understandings of God and how God relates to you and the world? • How did you handle this crisis? What helped you through?
• How did your understanding of God change? • Did you wind up with a deeper faith than you began with? • What advice would you give to someone who said they had “lost” their faith?
Exercise 5: Lutheran theology Lutherans have inherited a wonder- ful tradition of theology—nuanced understandings of who God is, how God relates to human beings, and how faithful people are to live. Mar- tin Luther’s Small Catechism of 1529 provides the most basic and acces- sible guide to Lutheran theology. Review the Small Catechism
(it’s printed in the back of Evangeli- cal Lutheran Worship). For every section discuss the theological underpinnings: • What does this say about who God is? • What does it say about how God works in our lives? • What does this say about how we are to live?
Exercise 6: The creed
Though we rarely think of it in these terms, the creed is nothing more than a basic set of theological statements about the Trinity. It reveals profound truths about God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. Explore the Apostles’ or Nicene creeds, asking these questions about every line or statement: • What does this say about who God is? • What does it say about how God relates to us? • What does it say about how we are to live as God’s faithful people?
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