And yet...

`Rat!' he found breath to whisper, shaking. `Are you afraid?'
`Afraid?' murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. `Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet -- and yet -- O, Mole, I am afraid!'
Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.

This quote from The Wind in the Willows (chapter - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn), is a great analogy of how I wish to approach God. I think that hidden here is the secret to the whole Old Testament/New Testament dichotomy of God. I love the way it is expressed here as, indeed, I love this entire chapter. There is so much in this chapter that speaks of that moment of glimpsing some glimmer of something greater.

It is that transcendent beauty that Lewis speaks of in Weight of Glory. It is - I think what Augustine is trying to say in his Confessions when he says, "...whatever you feel through the senses of the flesh you only feel in part. It delights you, but it is only a part and you have no knowledge of the whole...But if this were not so and they could comprehend the whole, you would wish that whatever exists in the present should pass on, so that you might gain greater pleasure from the whole."

This is why I think we need to embrace literature and mythology in theology. What Augustine tries to convey by using obtuse philosophical reasonings, is so beautifully and simply captured by Graham in text that is understood by children. I do not worry that by mingling elements of mythology with elements of faith that we should water the one down or give to much creedence to the other. The Bible, Old Testament and the Apostolic Tradition that is the New Testament stands as foundational truth. Surely that should stand as a foundation not to be corrupted. However, let the story tellers, artists and musicians do their part to help people understand it in ways that speak not just to the brain, but to the heart of the person.
MikeyC>
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/GraWind.html - Wind in the Willows online
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/006/1.32.html - Article titled Myth Matters in Chrisitianity Today. Great article about using the arts to communicate with our culture.