Dr. Enns, we would like you to come talk to us about God, Jesus, and the Bible, and we will pay you money. So, do you agree to come? And, have I mentioned we will give you money in exchange for telling us what you think about God, Jesus, and the Bible?
I’ve never gotten used to this.
Don’t misunderstand. I don’t think this is “wrong” and or that I’m above it all. We all have to make a living and positive cash flow is a wonderful thing. The banks that lend me money for a house, car, and college agree wholeheartedly.
But I just…feel funny about it. Like it’s not quite…right.
I and others like me have a limited skill set. I can’t weld, build houses, work in securities, or transplant organs. I went to seminary and graduate school to study the Bible and stuff. So here I am, with bills like everyone else, getting paid for telling people what he thinks about God, Jesus, and the Bible.
The plight of professional Christians–whether writer, speaker, professor, clergy. We make our income talking about the Creator, the one responsible for everything from subatomic particles to an expanding universe.
I just need to let that settle once in a while. And when I do I feel…sort of unqualified.
I think this is on my mind with my semester staring in a little over a week, finishing up a book manuscript in the next two weeks, and finalizing speaking plans for the next few months. It’s that time of year when I am surrounded by reminders of how I actually make a living.
The deep, ineffable, mysterious, and ultimate reality, the ground of all being–Being itself–is a for-profit gig.
Remembering that puts me in an introspective mood.
OK, I feel better now. It also helps that I am reading books like this
Anyway, I’d love to keep chatting, but I’ve got a list of God, Jesus, and Bible stuff to finish in the next two weeks.
