Excursis: Need for Certainty

Excursis is a fancy word I used in seminary. And since I'm insecure, it makes me feel better to use it. I think it basically means an "aside." And aside is a much shorter word, so there's really no reason to use the word excursis except to sound fancy. But anyway, this post is an excursis or an aside from my working through 1 Peter. I'm sitting at CityDock coffee in Arnold and I was eavesdropping on the table next to me. I don't know what they look like, because I'd have to turn around and then they'd see me looking at them. Anyway, this one guy just said something like "Americans demand certainty, but why can't we just accept that life is uncertain?" This comment highlights a growing tension in the American psyche. The guy behind me is right, we do demand certainty. We demand certainty with regards to our health--we want and demand the best healthcare possible. We want certainty with our financial future--we are fixated on retirement and want to ensure that we will have exactly what we want when we get there. We are a society that demands certainty. Yet at the same time we are increasingly skeptical that anything really is certain. Religious pluralism--there's no place for the 21st century puritan to plant his separatist religious colony. Philosophical certainty--we are uncertain whether or not we are even making sense when we talk about uncertainty. Even scientific certainty isn't what it once was. Everywhere uncertainty--is that sugar or splenda? Does she really sing that well in tune or is it pro tools?