It all started about 3 years ago. [cue flashback sequence]. Since the Presbytery youth retreat happened to fall on Dr. Seuss’ birthday, it seemed only logical at the time to run with Dr. Seuss books as our theme. We looked at the Beatitudes through the different lenses of Seuss’ writings and discovered some wonderful meaning. What was especially helpful was The Message version of the Beatitudes and its wonderful ending, “…my prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.” Seemed to be the perfect fit, especially given Seussian characters like the Cat in the Hat. In so many ways there is a wonderful connection to the long-standing prophetic tradition in the biblical witness and the idea of being a troublemaker.
Unfortunately, one problem for an institution like the church is that we often are more caught up in maintaining the status quo (since it has long benefited our institution), rather than maintaining a prophetic voice. Needless to say, in this day and age when the status quo is no longer our best buddy, perhaps it is time to re-embrace the prophetic troublemaking voice. So as we considered what kind of voice we wanted to embrace for Covenant on the web, the Holy Troublemaker seemed to be a good fit.
It should probably be mentioned that many of these posts will be critical of who the church is today–as would be fitting for a blog entitled Holy Troublemaker. It should also be mentioned that in no way is the thinking that somehow Covenant is above that kind of critique, but indeed are much in need of such a critical voice to remind us to humbly follow the lead Troublemaker–Jesus. Coming out of the Reformed tradition there is a natural kind of self critique built in to our theology as we remind ourselves of the need for God’s grace. Hopefully, the writing in this blog will continually drive us to a mindset of being reformed, but always in need of more reforming.
Lastly, this world needs our help–all of us. Continuing with the way things are at the moment, just isn’t an option. Again and again, scripture calls us to be involved in this world, and to seek to be a part of God’s transformative and reconciling kingdom in the midst of this world. Hopefully what will happen here will be inspiration to go upset the status quo and do something to make this world a better place. Thus the plural in the title. Though I will often be doing the writing here, I hope that it will be more than me causing trouble out there!
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