practicing atheism

I am reading an excellent book. Well excellent so far.
One thing it said, I thought was fantastic. But also incredibly challenging.
Kenda Creasy Dean was talking about how our theological beliefs affect our lives. She says that she ( and I would agree with her) has one theology which she believes, and one which she practices. She lives like a 'theological schizophrenic'.

I love this quote. It says so much to me about the way I do things.

'Christians preach a God who is (thankfully) bigger than we are, and as a result our lives and our ministries always fall miserably short. This is human and inevitable; but it is always redeemable. Unless those of us in youth ministry learn to approach our calling as a theological enterprise, asking ourselves why we pastor youth in the ways that we do, we risk turning youth ministry into a giant Saturday Night Live skit:

What we say: "God sent Jesus to save the world!"
What we think: "I must save this young person from self-destructing."

What we say: "God is in control!"
What we think: "They can't run this program without me."

What we say: "Jesus loves us unconditionally."
What we think: "I can't tell them what I think or they won't like me."

What we say: "With God, nothing is impossible."
What we think: "I feel like I'm drowning in youth ministry."

Put simply, theological reflection keeps the practice of youth ministry focused on God instead of on us. It makes possible radical congruency between what we say we believe and how we conduct our lives. Without intentional theological reflection in our ministries with young people, we will all be living like atheists in no time.'

I personally think this relates to a lot more than just youth ministry. One of the things that I love about Christianity, is that it has no limits. But I have time limits now, so I may blog more on that later...