We wrapped up class this week and I can’t believe how quickly it’s gone. In some ways I feel like we were just getting to the good stuff. I know I am leaving this class with many more questions than answers. I feel like I have a new lense through which to see the world around me- and there’s a lot to look at.
Bolger left us with a few of his ideas- applying all the content of class to a view of the church transforming culture. He introduced the idea that, as a Christian, we have no sphere to call our own. We are in the space of others and take on different forms and flows.
I take this revolutionary idea with me from the quarter, an idea that refuses to settle neatly into the categories of my experiences, but instead shakes my internal sense of security. To have no sphere of my own seems scary, especially when I have been raised tucked safely in a Christian bubble.
How do I shatter my sphere without shattering my identity in God? How do I shatter my sphere without hurting those I love who don’t want to shatter theirs? How do I allow God to hold me and protect me as I ebb and flow, separated from the constructed reality of protection that would be so much easier to run back to?
These are struggles I’ve had for a long time, with no language to describe them. This class gave me that language and a new view of the world. I’m looking forward to next quarter!
