letting go of "god"

It is time to let go of God.

 

Not to let go of that Love that is woven into creation.

Not to let go of that Power that is present in everything.

Even us.

 

But to let go of the “god” we have created,

all to often in our own image.

 

That limited god.

That small god.

That god we can define.

 

This is a terrifying journey indeed,

Letting go of our ideas of who god is and

how god works in the world.

 

We love the idols we have created.

But they are much to small to contain the divine.

The moment we try to give this Reality a name we are in trouble

We have anthropomorphized, and squeezed in infinite into a human box

 

Even when Love tried to help us out,

and became incarnate again (as if creation were not enough)

we managed, with our love of control,

and our black and white thinking,

to make a mess of things!

 

We even created Jesus in our own image,

that milky-white Jesus with the blond, clean, flowing hair!

That Caucasian Jesus

(who would have been so out of place among a bunch of

dusky Semitics).

 

There is a place for seeing Jesus as one of “us”.

A place for a black Jesus, brown Jesus, a Jesus who looks

just like the person looking!

 

But we if we accept one we must accept them all,

and accept none.

 

The fact is we cannot really “get” this power, this love

which is in all

which gave form and substance to chaos

which does not just permeate but shapes

 

it has been said that we must talk about God only in terms of what God is not

that we must accept only that god is both unknowable and inexhaustible (Alan Jones).

 

I do know we can’t decide whom god loves

We can’t load god down with our cultural values and understandings

We can’t really understand how god works,

 

When we try we end up with idols

 

But if we must say god is unknowable

We must also say that God is experienceable

Unknowable does not mean unreal

Just beyond our understanding (ask Job)

 

What we can do is keep an altar in our heart for an unknown God (Henri-Frederic Amiel)

an open place for what shows up

 

for that combination of power and love

we call God (for lack of a better name)

 

we can move God from a concept to be understood

to a relationship to be encountered

experienced

 

accepted

openly

humbly

and yes, submissively

 

we can be people carried along

by the stream of the divine

into new places

of hope and joy

 

it is time to let go of God

and time to embrace the Love and Power that show up

when our hands (and hearts, and minds)

are open