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