I've noticed this trend in prayer that has crawled underneath my skin, kind of like a chigger, and makes it's way to the surface to irritate me and make me itch. The trend is to strictly relegate God to the role of "Father" in prayer. What I mean is this "Father, we ask you today...Father, come into our presence...Father, we call on your name..." I listened in worship this morning and every single person who prayed in front of church started out with "Father".
I don't mind calling God "father", though I know of many for whom that term will never fall from their lips. What I mind is limiting God to "father". It seems to make God one-dimensional and so very much human, whereas I see God as multi-dimensional and utterly other. To me saying "Father" in relation to God conjures up the Sunday School image that I had of God as a giant white cloud in the sky with a face, a mustache, a long white beard and puffy white cheeks and a ready smile. That God of my childhood was limiting, had parameters that were clearly known and would always be in the sky. The God of my adulthood is different.
God may look like the God portrayed in "The Shack", a big black woman in an apron. God may look like the wind. Like the frog that sat beside me on the beach one day as I struggled to make sense of the heartache I was feeling. God might look like the guy who sold me my Mustang Convertible. God might look like the rocks where I sat in Tahoe last year, officially deciding to quit my job. God might look like the lizards near the rocks that kept darting back and forth beneath my legs, making me move. God might look the trees. God might look like Ms. Shirley in Mississippi or my friend Cora or maybe even David, who lived in the woods. I have no idea what God might look like but I do know that I cannot limit God to being just "Father".
God is Creator, Author, the Alpha and Omega, beautiful, scandalous, full of Grace, full of Mercy, full of Kindness but also a God of wrath and a God of love. God is so infinitely big, so infinitely amazing I cannot fully comprehend nor explain God. God is the giver of life, the keeper of my deepest secrets, the one who gives, the one who grieves. God is breath. God is hope. God is compassionate and slow to anger. God is the one who pushes me beyond the limits I have set for myself. God is a cheerleader and a a rule enforcer. God is...God not just Father but so much more.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Dear Church,
I'm tired. I'm very, very tired of the "liberal vs conservative" conversation. I'm tired of it in politics. I'm extremely tired of it in the church.
I sit in the same row as people Sunday after Sunday with people who don't hold the same views as I do. We don't always read the Bible and see the same words. We don't always hear a song/hymn and get the same meaning from it. We don't think about certain "hot topics" the same way. Yet I sit in church every week with people who don't hold the same ideas or thoughts and we still worship the same Jesus and the same God. I am friends with Christians who hold differing views than I do, yet that doesn't make my beliefs or their beliefs any less real. Sure, it will cause discord when we discuss the issues but really, it doesn't matter.
See, I care more about the heart of a person than I do about their politics. Politics can be a statement of the heart but it doesn't tell the full story. The full story comes about in conversation, in relationship, when I sit beside someone on Sunday morning and witness the tears of conviction, the sighs of acknowledgement, the silence of the weight of God speaking to them. The full story comes when I take the time to look beyond the label and listen, really listen. Liberal or conservative, doesn't really matter when I start looking at the heart of a person, it's just a category.
You can come up and ask me what I think about gay marriage, abortion, the Apostle's Creed, heaven and hell, Noah and the Ark, Adam and Eve, Paul's instructions to Timothy or any of it. I'll tell you what I think and you can put me in a category...or you can look at my heart, really listen to my words and see the person God has created, the person God has given a mind and the power of discernment, a person who is fallible, a person who knows that God is big, so much bigger than I can possibly imagine that I don't really have a clue sometimes. You can label me but why?
Church, I don't think that liberals or conservatives alone are the reason people are walking away from you. I believe it's because we insist on the labels, we insist on pointing the fingers at others and aren't willing to accept our own part in the mess that is walking by faith. I wonder what would happen, if we would put those labels and categories aside, I wonder what would happen if we would start listening and then talking. I wonder what we, Church, would look like if we were willing to drop the labels and work together. I wonder...
Just thinking,
Brittany
I sit in the same row as people Sunday after Sunday with people who don't hold the same views as I do. We don't always read the Bible and see the same words. We don't always hear a song/hymn and get the same meaning from it. We don't think about certain "hot topics" the same way. Yet I sit in church every week with people who don't hold the same ideas or thoughts and we still worship the same Jesus and the same God. I am friends with Christians who hold differing views than I do, yet that doesn't make my beliefs or their beliefs any less real. Sure, it will cause discord when we discuss the issues but really, it doesn't matter.
See, I care more about the heart of a person than I do about their politics. Politics can be a statement of the heart but it doesn't tell the full story. The full story comes about in conversation, in relationship, when I sit beside someone on Sunday morning and witness the tears of conviction, the sighs of acknowledgement, the silence of the weight of God speaking to them. The full story comes when I take the time to look beyond the label and listen, really listen. Liberal or conservative, doesn't really matter when I start looking at the heart of a person, it's just a category.
You can come up and ask me what I think about gay marriage, abortion, the Apostle's Creed, heaven and hell, Noah and the Ark, Adam and Eve, Paul's instructions to Timothy or any of it. I'll tell you what I think and you can put me in a category...or you can look at my heart, really listen to my words and see the person God has created, the person God has given a mind and the power of discernment, a person who is fallible, a person who knows that God is big, so much bigger than I can possibly imagine that I don't really have a clue sometimes. You can label me but why?
Church, I don't think that liberals or conservatives alone are the reason people are walking away from you. I believe it's because we insist on the labels, we insist on pointing the fingers at others and aren't willing to accept our own part in the mess that is walking by faith. I wonder what would happen, if we would put those labels and categories aside, I wonder what would happen if we would start listening and then talking. I wonder what we, Church, would look like if we were willing to drop the labels and work together. I wonder...
Just thinking,
Brittany
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