I woke up this morning with a splitting headache, upset stomach, and a slight fever, and have therefore spent the last few hours alternating between my bed and the bathroom. You see, I was feeling lazy yesterday after work and I decided to stop for dinner on the way home rather than cooking something myself. When I came out of the metro, I surveyed my options and – being the American that I am – I decided to try out the new БУРГЕР КИНГ that just opened.
(that’s Burger King for those of you who don’t read cyrillic)
Now most of you know that I’m not a huge fan of fast food, but the smell of greasy fries was enough yesterday to lure me in. I sat down and ate my burger, which was surprisingly tastier than those found in most Burger Kings I’ve been to in the states, and then went on my way. I will spare you an in-depth discussion of my bowel movements by simply saying that I have paid for that whopper dearly over the last 24 hours.
I do, however, have more to share today than my gastrointestinal health. One of my goals for the new year is to reread some of the books from seminary. You might think it strange that I would want to go back and re-read theology books after spending the last three years doing little else, but the reality is that there is a difference between reading something in an academic sense and reading for personal enjoyment. There is no pressure or post-reading analysis due, and I can actually engage with the authors on a much more comfortable level.
I decided to start with one of the many books assigned by one of my favorite Wesley professors, Drew Dyson. Drew liked to assign roughly a book a week, which – when coupled together with a full course load, a part time job, and a field placement – meant that I wasn’t always able to give my utmost attention to each and every one of them. This book in particular (Soul Graffiti by Mark Scandrette) happened to slip through the cracks with little more than a cursory skim, so I figured it was a good place to start.
One quote in particular has really stood out to me, and I have decided to use it as a sort of resolution for 2014. Scandrette writes,
“Perhaps we have been too easily pleased by our over educated ability to analyze and deconstruct. Rather than being skeptical, why couldn’t our collective sense of unrest about religion and spiritual community motivate us to be more curious and engaged…”
As someone who loves Derrida and deconstruction, my friends have given me plenty of friendly critique over the years about my tendency to instantly deconstruct whatever thoughts and theories I encounter, so I am going to try to take Mark Scandrette’s advice and see what happens. Here’s to a year of curious engagement.
Never Stop Speaking 