“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.” -Annie Dillard in Teaching a Stone to Talk
I don’t usually mark in my books, but I marked that. I can’t tell you why, exactly, except that the idea that we have no idea what power we so blithely invoke resonates very deeply with me. We sit and stand and sing our songs and give our offerings and listen to the sermon. We come away with a few things to ponder during the week. But since we do it every single week, it can be easy to miss the greatness of it all. That when we pray, things change (although it has been brought to my attention quite a lot lately that what really changes when I pray is me). And that we can invoke that power at any time of day or night. Suddenly TNT doesn’t sound so far off.
The other reason I marked it is that I think I am more afraid of being drawn out to where I can never return than I am willing to admit. I have problems, yes, but they are familiar. I’m used to them. We live together comfortably. If you take them away from me, if I grow beyond them, I might not be so comfortable. It sounds ridiculous, right? But it’s true. I might not be happy with how things are, but neither do I really want them to change.
So I continue on in my blithe way, standing and sitting and passing the plate, because admitting to myself what it all means might mean I’d have to actually face what’s wrong and do something about it. And letting TNT loose in my life? TNT that I can’t control? That sounds a little too scary.
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13 Comments
I like that quote. This was a very thought-provoking post.
Thanks, Brian. I like that quote, too.
this was a very good post.. Im going to write that passage down in my bible.. you should post this on the board somewhere were lots of people can see it…
:yes:
Ive been missin you.. you havent been around much.. hope you’re well..
Are you encouraging me to pimp my blog, Mr. Lampley?
“And letting TNT loose in my life? TNT that I can’t control? That sounds a little too scary. ”
:sadsigh: Agreed.
I am indeed encouraging you to pimp your blog.. or should I pimp it for you….
yes.. yes I should.. I should TOTALLY be your pimp..
A pimp of my very own? Better than Christmas!
when you see the big gift at christmas.. with the pretty bow.. that looks like its alive.. that’ll be me.. your very own pimp… hehe..
my work here is done..
This is a thought-provoking post, but I keep getting a song stuck in my head: “T N T! I’m dynamite!”
GFM <– “Watch me explooooooode!”
Comfortable, familiar problems. Yes, I know that game well. God dropped some TNT in my life in January and exploded my comfortable sin, my familiar selfishness. And it threw me off course. I felt untethered, floating aimlessly for a while. Because I had anchored myself to that sin, had tied much of my self-image to that addiction, all to my destruction. But those ties, that addiction, that comfort, all got blown to bits. And I had to look for a new anchor, and it was then that I anchored myself to Jesus infinitely more than I ever had before. Painful, yes. Scary, yes. Life-giving and life-changing and one of the best things to ever happen to me? Yes.
Embrace the explosion.
Thank you. I knew the quote was from Dillard, but I didn’t know which book. I actually came across it in an article entitled ‘God the Dangerous’ by Doug Jones.
I love this quote, and quote it often, use it in things I say and do. The idea that God is untamed, uncontrollable, no matter how much we think we have a handle on God, is so very true, and so hard to get across to people. If we knew what we were doing when we worship, it would be awesome. We would be dying to come to worship. Churches, synagogues, and mosques, and other holy places would be packed and overflowing. Annie Dillard got it right. I wonder if she knows how close she is…?
I found your website while Googling that exact Dillard quote.
I’m a rostered lay minister in my synod of the ELCA. This past Sunday I was on my way to church, alb in tow, when my visiting son-in-law — someone who is estranged from the Church, who respects my partner’s and my faith and involvement in our faith community, but who doesn’t really get it — who seems to be a little afraid of it, actually — said, “Well, have a good service. And be careful.” I found this comment so funny that I was inwardly chuckling all the way to church..but there’s an element of truth to it, isn’t there. That’s what made me think of Dillard’s comment.