Welcome

Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Thursday, January 22, 2015

Our Transcendent, Intimate God

In their book "Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar...." Cathcart and Klein open up their chapter of the Philosophy of Religion with this brief statement.

"The God that philosophers of religion like to argue about isn't one that most of us would recognize.  He tends to be more on the abstract side, like "the Force" in Star Wars, and less like a parent who stays up at night worrying about you."

____________________________________________

Sometimes when I think about God
I can only think BIG
I mean really big
Like Master of the Universe big

God is up there
out there
a little bit vague
a lot scary

The mean old guy with a beard and thunder bolt
or worse

God is totally transcendent
and frankly
not exactly very real

and helpful?
can a cosmic bowl of tapioca pudding
(yes, that is my other image)
be helpful?

But sometimes I think of God as immanent
and intimate
I think of the Christ
The Word made flesh
God living among us

I think of God in the Exodus
Camping
Tenting
with the people of Israel
present and in their midst

And I think of how God comes now
in special people whom God places in my life
in sisters and daughters
dear friends

God is in the person who listens deeply
In the one who notices my pain
and shares my joy

God is in the smile and the hand shake
I get from the person at the Blue Banana (my favorite coffee spot)
and in the quick hug I get
when I walk through the door of my church.

God is in the little child who tugs at my pants leg
and smiles up at me in the mall
(no idea who she was)
and in my grandchildren as they laugh

God is
Big
But God is also
Present
in all the little things

And yes, God looks down at me
and worries
as a mother worries
over a difficult child

No comments:

Post a Comment