On Life and Existentialism

Soren Kierkegaard, that beautifully tortured soul, writes in his journal reflection of 1835:

"How bewildering the contemplation of life often is when seen in all its richness, when we look at the astonishing variety of ability and disposition, from the man who has grown so inwardly familiar with God that like John of old he may be said to lie upon the divine breast, to the man who in his bestial brutality misunderstands and wants to misunderstand all the deeper emotions, from the man who sees through the historical process with the eyes of a lynx and almost dares to set the hour, to him for whom even the simplest thing is difficult; or else we realize the inequality of rank and position, at one moment enviously feeling the lack of what has been given to others, at another time with a thankful melancholy seeing how much has been given to us which has been denied to others-and then a cold philosophy tries to explain it all from pre-existence and does not see it as the unending pageantry of life with its motley play of colors and its infinite variety."

How incredibly accurate and true. Though we long for simple explanation, we cannot only be people of prose, but people who use imagination, song, and poetry to speak to the congregation, to the friend, to the lover about God. We must be, as Eugene Peterson says, an "Apocalyptic Poet" to our hearers, speaking into being the dynamic truth of life. Cold philosophy will explain how something is. But only poetry, music, and song explain what it is. God speaks to us in poetry, a great example for speaking to each other.

See you in church,
VT...

Kierkegaard quote taken from A Kierkegaard Anthology edited by Robert Bretall. Peterson quote from his work The Contemplative Pastor.