Hiccup

Zephaniah 3:14-20 (NRSV)

Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!

The Lord has taken away the judgments against you,
he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall fear disaster no more.

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands grow weak.

The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing

as on a day of festival.

I will remove disaster from you,
so that you will not bear reproach for it.

I will deal with all your oppressors
    at that time.
And I will save the lame
    and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
    and renown in all the earth.

At that time I will bring you home,
    at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
    among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
    before your eyes, says the Lord.

Dry bread on an empty stomach triggers hiccups and only a sheer act-of-will stops them.

A child’s portrait looking out over William’s Field triggers faith hiccups even after a dozen years. Stopping by my friend’s grave hiccups faith. In my vocation, death is companion but not friend and the name on the gravestone makes no sense, infuriates me as I lay flowers and stand tempted by Job’s wife. Evidence of things not seen, Faith is a personal decision and faith hiccups require conscious act-of-will to move on.

I will remove, I will deal, And I will save? Faith hiccups: who or what is the oppressor? What do I believe? Someone’s creed? Reference Philip Jenkins, Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 years, theologians, church fathers, secular rulers, and bishops making it their role to define truth and tell us what to believe -- doctrines, confessions, creeds, dogma, catechisms. Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Augustine, Constantine, Schleiermacher, the theologians’ right role is not instruct but coach: help me discover and practice my ability to think theologically. And rather than the dogmatic theologians of seminary textbooks, my favorite theologian may be Steve Jobs telling a college graduating class “Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice."

Clayton Sullivan says what we believe is our world-life-view, says if we have a religion, our WLV is our true theology. Says what I truly believe is not what my forebears or church taught that I should believe. Says what I actually believe may not even be what I myself think I should and do believe. Says what I really, truly believe, if I am true to myself, is not found in a creed I stand and say on Sunday morning, but is revealed in my everyday life.
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