Tubthumping Theology

Channeling the Spirit of James Redfield?

As some of my skepticism about experience is fading, I am beginning to reconsider, or at least look more carefully, at some of the coincidences in my life.  In his book, The Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield argues that coincidence is the way God[i] shows us what we ought to do, and is how he speaks to us.  When some coincidence (especially a weird one) occurs, it is an indication that we are at a crucial moment and should trust that acting on the coincidence is God’s will.  As I read the book and compared it to scripture, I was struck by the frequency with which God does use “coincidence” to influence people and events (Joseph and Moses had some significant ones).  It seems like things are always happening at just the right (or wrong) time.  I have often listened to people ascribe divine activity to events, meetings, songs, etc, and have been fairly skeptical…which is ironic, since I am a minute decretialist[ii].  It seems like I should be on the forefront of those who believe God uses events to communicate to us.  The problem is the distinction between communication and revelation.  Part of the difference seems to be between the immanent and the transcendent activity of God, that is, his miraculous or providential handiwork.  For now I am going to leave this one to the theologians…Adam, Josh, do you want to chime in…or better yet, write a new post on this distinction, if you think there is one.  Now to my story…

Last Friday started full of promise.  I played some very good tennis and had a nice workout.  My workday was productive and full of laughs.  I had been waiting for a week to find out if I was to be approved for a position that is of great interest to me and has a lot of implications for the future I hope for myself.  It’s one of those things that I’m perfect for and would be so enjoyable that it would almost seem wrong to get paid for doing it.  At the end of the day my boss sat me down and told me that there was good news and bad news.  The bad news was that I had been turned down for it.  I never heard the good news.  I had been so sure that I would be offered the position, I had started making plans in my head of how my family’s life was going to change.  Things that had seemed impossible were appearing to be do-able thanks to this great opportunity, and now it was gone.  And I had to tell my wife…which I finally did.

I was angry at myself and God and everyone else who did or didn’t have anything to do with it.  Feeling discouraged (maybe pouting is closer to the truth[i]), I trudged out to my car.  As I turned the key, the Beatsan[ii] began to speak to me.  It said, “I get knocked down, but I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down…”  My first thought was, “Wow, I love this song…I haven’t heard this in forever…how old is this song?”  Then I heard the words again for the first time and felt strong.  It was like God was putting his arm around my shoulder and affirming that all would be well in the end.

I don’t take this to mean that God endorses Chumbawumba, or even the rest of the song (i.e. I didn’t drown my sorrow with whiskey, vodka, lager or cider), but I do believe that God wanted to encourage me and remind me of his presence in a life that is full of downs as well as ups. 

With this emotional reassurance, I turned to a more sure source[iii] of God’s communication with me, his word, and attempted to encourage myself there.  I continue to maintain what I consider to be healthy skepticism toward experience, but have wondered how much I have missed by disregarding it for years.  Any thoughts from the gallery?

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