James Cone made the poignant argument years ago at one of the State of the Black Unions, hosted by Tavis Smiley, that we must serve God with our minds. Cone argued we serve God with our bodies (the shout) we serve God with our substance (money, time, and talent) but we often leave God out of the depths of our minds and critical analysis and queries. With that said I must mention that James Cone is a Systematic Theologian and member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and has ties to the Midwest because he was educated at Garret Evangelical Seminary in Evanston, Illinois and has ties to the American South because Arkansas is his home. Cone along with his brother Cecil have contributed to the religious and Christian academy that are unparalleled.
Cone’s point about serving God with our mind is insightful into the life and work for those who profess the faith. That phrase has captured my essence and been my rally cry to balance my head and heart as I serve in ministry.
As I reflect on Cone’s observation, I have to ask, How do we think? What makes us make decisions? What is happening in our minds consciously and unconsciously that makes us think and act? What makes us arrive at certain conclusions? What makes us do what we do when we do it?
Lawrence Crabtree, a scholar of the Pastoral Care and Christian Counseling movements borrows from the philosophers and examines what makes us think. I have found myself interested in what makes humans do what we do. Our prisons would be emptier, crimes of passion would be nonexistent, and wars would be kept at a minimal. Crabtree argues that we make decisions based on Experience, Reason, Intuition, and Faith.
*Experience-does not have to be through hands on application
* Reason–engaging an experience or thought intellectually
* Intuition-gut feeling-unconscious feeling of knowing
* Faith-belief in a higher power that guides us
As Christians we have to ask where our faith comes in to our decision making processes. How does Bible and theology inform our experiences and our reasoning? Does intuition take on a spiritual and religious perspective or can we just feel and know something without God giving it to us.
This week I will end this devotional with a question, What do you think? What makes you or drives you to make a decision? Where is your faith in your decision making processes? Do you know?
Lawrence Crabtree is not the only person to ask or answer this question. The philosophers of old asked these type of questions centuries ago. How do we think? What makes us think and what makes us think of particular topics? What drives our behavior?
These are all wonderful questions. As we probe further, what makes a person think who professes to have a belief and value system? The reason I ask is because so many people claim to be Christians. What about our value system or our decision making processes makes us Christians? On one hand we have Roman 10:9. That is foundational. But after Romans 10:9, what do we as Christians u to make decisions? What tools do we use to make decisions based on our Christian belief and desired practice? John Wesley (the former Anglican priest) the founder of Methodism (the first Pentecostal Movement in the World), was impressed with the Moravian Pietist and their spiritual vitality and vigor. Wesley met them on as hip heading back from the American Colony Georgia to his home in London, England. There Wesley’s heart was “strangely warmed” and the High Church Anglican Preacher literally became a street preacher empowered by the Holy Spirit. Wesley’s new spiritual insight also manifested itself in his writings.
The Anglican Church believed Anglican’s thought and encountered God through a Trilateral: Scripture, Tradition and Reason. Wesley developed the now famous Quadrilateral: Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience. He believed we encounter God through Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience and we think or our thoughts and behaviors are shaped by Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience.
What do you think?
Rev. Carey A Grady is the Sr. Pastor of Bethel AME Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He is a popular blogger and has an online devotional. You can register for the devotional at www.bethelcathedral.org under the online news section of the website. He can be reached at pastorgrady@att.net
