In our "Stories of the Saints" worship series over the last two weeks, we've been focusing on Jesus - who He was (His earthly life and ministry) and who He is (eternal Son of God). I know - it's impossible to cover all of that in 2 weeks. (And really, we focus on Jesus every week. The point of all of Scripture is ultimately to point to Him as Messiah.) In fact, it's impossible to cover all of that, period. Who Jesus was, and is, is bigger than all we can possibly comprehend as humans.

And the great thing is, that's the point.

Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith. That He was God who became flesh (John 1:14) and that He lived, died, and was raised to life again (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) is the foundation of everything we are as the Christian church. And yet those very things are a mystery: how could God become man? How could someone simply be raised from death, and never die again? How could there be a being that has no beginning and no end?

And yet for me, the fact that we can't answers those questions is beautiful. Some would say we can't believe because those things seem unreal, or they're not able to be proved or reasoned; that they just don't make sense. I say, if I could figure God out, I would have a hard time believing He was actually God. If I could understand everything about God, why would I need one? I could just be one for myself.

I'm not saying faith is blind or wholly unsupported by fact. Jesus was an actual historical figure, and His life and ministry as recorded in the Bible is more "provable" than the existence of other historical figures like Julius Caesar. Yet there is also deep mystery surrounding God.

One of the things I love about our church is that we accept this tension and sense of mystery. We don't believe blindly; nor do we try to reason away the mystery. (Even that in itself seems to be a paradox.) Scripture is explicit about this at many points, and one of the roles of church leaders is to be "stewards of mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1), We live in the midst of paradox, and I love that.

We see this in many areas, and I'll leave you with a few to ponder:

• In His incarnation, Jesus is 100% man and 100% God.
• Jesus said, "This is my body...this is my blood", and we receive the true body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion. It is neither merely symbolic nor physically changed from bread and wine.
• God is eternal, with no beginning and no end.
• God is One God in Three Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• Christians are at the same time saints (fully justified and holy before God) and sinners (completely sinful in our nature). We have been fully forgiven and at the same time need forgiveness every day.
• We celebrate the simple faith of a little child who can understand all that is needed, and also the unknowable mind of God.
• Worship is both sacramental (God coming to us to serve us with His gifts) and sacrificial (our receiving the gifts and answering Him with thanks and praise).
• God is both the transcendant Creator of the universe, all-knowing and all-powerful, and best friend to sinful people who don't deserve it.
• God does not will for sin to happen, and yet in spite of (and even through) sinful human action, His will can be accomplished. (Take, for example, the story of Joseph in Genesis).
• Christians pursue strength by pursuing weakness, honor by pursuing humility, leadership and authority by pursuing servanthood.

As we asked in one of our discipleship reflection questions this week: If we could make this topic make complete rational sense, would it still be worth believing?