"There is only one teacher."

“A student when fully trained will be like his master.” Who is training me? Do I like what I see? Am I happy with what I will come out like? What if I (we) don’t see anyone where I feel God may be calling me (us)? Who do I (we) look up to? How will I avoid being beaten up by institutions, and my creativity being squashed by uniformity? Is faithfulness static? What does faithfulness look like? Like it did in 100 AD, or 400 AD, or 1700 AD, or the 1990’s? Could faithfulness to what the Spirit is doing look slightly different in the near future than anything we have ever seen? If not – which phase of the ever-changing history of the Church do we need to freeze-frame and imitate?

Lord, guide us. We are lost, and we know it. We are looking to you for direction. How do we hold the arts and the academy together? So they have to be antithetical? Why do we have to choose between being theorists and practitioners? Jesus, please provide a third way.