Going to the Museum
Several years ago I and a couple of friends spent the day in Chicago. We caught an early morning train near my hometown and we spent the whole day exploring the city. When we entered the city we had no plans and it was a time of wandering for the first several minutes.
We ended up at Grant Park and finally decided to go to the Museum of Natural History which happens to be right by the park. After spending about an hour at the museum we then decided to get in a cab and go south to the Museum of Science and Industry.
The differences between these two museums is like night and day. The museum of Natural History is quiet and there are a lot of displays, skeletons of dinosaurs and a Native American hogan set up so one could see how life may have been several centuries earlier. One would walk through and examine and reflect on what life was like way back when.
The Museum of Science and Industry was a lot more active and interactive. Sure there were the displays but there were a lot of interactive things one could participate in and so one felt like they were a part of the action. One of the things you could experience was a coal mine. Where you saw all sorts of demonstrations on how machinery worked and how coal was mined. Having seen this before when I was in the fifth grade I wanted to see how it had changed.When I took the tour I remember the guide telling us none of the things you will see today are currently used in modern mining. But at one time they were used in coal mines. I realized the tour had not been upgraded in years it was still the same as it was the many years before when I took the tour.
Of the two museums I liked the Museum of Science and Industry more than the Museum of Natural History because I liked the interaction of the exhibits, I felt like I was more a part of the things that were going on than at a museum where I just watched.
When I relate this to my faith I want a faith where I interact with God not just sit and watch. I want God to be a part of my life and to feel the presence of God in my life. I am not content to look and see how things were done in the past and be content with things as there were and reach the conclusion that is how they always will be. Like the interaction with God it would be easy to reach a point where I would get comfortable and say that is far enough and never move forward in my life from that point.
My faith is not a museum to the past but a place that is constantly being upgraded and moving forward because is not something that is dead but it is alive in me. Things that are alive are constantly changing that is the continual challenge for my faith and life.
Several years ago I and a couple of friends spent the day in Chicago. We caught an early morning train near my hometown and we spent the whole day exploring the city. When we entered the city we had no plans and it was a time of wandering for the first several minutes.
We ended up at Grant Park and finally decided to go to the Museum of Natural History which happens to be right by the park. After spending about an hour at the museum we then decided to get in a cab and go south to the Museum of Science and Industry.
The differences between these two museums is like night and day. The museum of Natural History is quiet and there are a lot of displays, skeletons of dinosaurs and a Native American hogan set up so one could see how life may have been several centuries earlier. One would walk through and examine and reflect on what life was like way back when.
The Museum of Science and Industry was a lot more active and interactive. Sure there were the displays but there were a lot of interactive things one could participate in and so one felt like they were a part of the action. One of the things you could experience was a coal mine. Where you saw all sorts of demonstrations on how machinery worked and how coal was mined. Having seen this before when I was in the fifth grade I wanted to see how it had changed.When I took the tour I remember the guide telling us none of the things you will see today are currently used in modern mining. But at one time they were used in coal mines. I realized the tour had not been upgraded in years it was still the same as it was the many years before when I took the tour.
Of the two museums I liked the Museum of Science and Industry more than the Museum of Natural History because I liked the interaction of the exhibits, I felt like I was more a part of the things that were going on than at a museum where I just watched.
When I relate this to my faith I want a faith where I interact with God not just sit and watch. I want God to be a part of my life and to feel the presence of God in my life. I am not content to look and see how things were done in the past and be content with things as there were and reach the conclusion that is how they always will be. Like the interaction with God it would be easy to reach a point where I would get comfortable and say that is far enough and never move forward in my life from that point.
My faith is not a museum to the past but a place that is constantly being upgraded and moving forward because is not something that is dead but it is alive in me. Things that are alive are constantly changing that is the continual challenge for my faith and life.
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