A pastor friend of mine in the Midwest put together a Summer Lectionary and he called it Bumper Sticker Theology. It grabbed my imagination and so I stole it from him (with his permission). The reason I am excited about this opportunity is that it speaks directly to our human condition and our desire to break down the complex relationships we have and events that are around us into simpler terms. Often this is not as helpful as we hope.
When we comfort someone who is grieving, for example, we are overcome often with our own emotions. Maybe it is our own grief or our own feeling of inadequacy in the situation that drives us to say something or anything. So, we blurt out something that we heard somewhere that maybe would be helpful. But, really, the person we are comforting does not need to be told that “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle”, or “you will feel better in time”, or “buck it up”, or anything else for that matter.
Bumper sticker theology takes those simple sayings and breaks them down so that we can see how sometimes these words are more harmful than they are helpful. Often these sayings have more to do with me than the person I am trying to help.
Poor theology does do real harm. In fact, it can be dangerous at times. Bad theology wants to put us in control and to smooth over anything that is uncomfortable. Too often, bad theology wants to cover up the uncomfortable instead of confronting it, or worse, to shun others because we do not want to confront the complexities of life. It is just better if there is just one way, right?
I hope this series will help us grow as theologians. And yes, you are a theologian. We all are. The more we can educate ourselves about God’s word and how Jesus taught us to be in the world, the more equipped we will be when faced with difficulty. Because:
