IF WHAT

I was looking for a key the other day ... a cleff supported by a bar ... take the letter i lower case and tie it to the shaft of the letter f ... that's what it looked like and in the word so gratuitously formed I found what I was looking for ... put that little conditional in front of the grandest theological ship of the line and with a little nudge she sends it sailing out to sea ... if our god is not a god of mere destiny and chance what then follows in his wake ... if he's more than a mechanical spiritual fate then there's room for me to wriggle ... on the other hand if he were nothing more than a map I could take hold of it and what would come of that ... I have good intentions ... I'd mark the road to follow every inch of it with detail and warning ... every inch of it and woe betide those who wander ... but most of all I'd regret just having it the fulfillment of it meaning it was over ... the sadness of fruition ... the tedium of success ... no I'll hitch my if to a star that's moving to a clause that still shows promise

moltmann, theology of hope, II.2