I think people get confused when they spend any time outdoors with me. It largely has to do with my background as an outdoor educator and their expectations of doing the old "science in the woods" routine, whereby I point out everything and identify it along the way. They quickly learn that "finding the answer" isn’t one of my top priorities. In a culture that is over-saturated with information; answers become dead ends for people, and a good question is worth a handful of great answers. When in the woods, I’m more interested in the story that is unfolding. So the model that I employ when leading nature time is often asking people, "Tell me the story of what happened here." Those looks of confusion gradually subside once they realize I’m treating our time together more like a puzzle rather than a test. It’s then that they begin to read and participate in the story rather than me just cramming them with information (which they likely won’t remember or at best will become a "memory" where no real connection was made anyway).
That's the thing about puzzles; they don’t solve themselves. You are given the pieces and are invited at your own pace to figure out how the
pieces connect with one another. When we read the Gospels, we see the moments where
Jesus offers an answer as less of an answer and more of another piece of the
puzzle. In most scenarios, he doesn’t just say here’s your answer/truth; rather here is just one more piece
for you to sit with and figure out how and why all of this matters. After all, the
best teachers are the ones who show you where to look but don’t tell you
what to see. Our faith communities are places where sojourners can sit for a time and
hold their piece of the puzzle and through prayer, discernment and
wisdom seeking best clarify 'how' and 'if' their piece fits into the
collective vision of that community and how their story fits into the bigger Story of God.
I once heard a good tracking proverb that helped me place this thought into a deeper context: When you see a new track or trail you do not know, follow it to the point of knowing. What so often happens today is when we happen upon a new track or trail because it represents mystery or seemingly has nothing to offer us, we do not follow it to the point of knowing. A quick answer does not invite one to continue peeling back the layers.
We are culture bent on 'gathering' (food, pleasure, materials, information, the 'right' answers) but not pursuing. Ironically, what we've not understood so well is that gathering really means giving and sharing, we've lost sense of this along the way so our gathering has become one dimensional. It's largely about us not the community. And that is what is making us sick, depressed, obese, empty, and the newest one reeling from symptoms of information disorder. The communities that seem to be sensing renewed vitality are allowing people to follow the trail that leads to a greater understanding and relationship with God and God’s creation. When they go deeper on the trail they discover that God is inviting them to live from their hearts and to share their story with all who would be willing to listen. There's an old Dutch hymn that we sing in our churches, "we gather together to ask the Lord's blessing..." We are missing the boat if our gathering is only about gathering and not about the togetherness that must always accompany it. I pray that we can become better at putting the pieces together, pursuing the story and making sure that we share it rather than content to merely gather it...
