The God We Never Knew
Rev. Christina
M. Neilson
June 10th, 2007
I
remember the precise moment that I believed in evolution. I was making some “hamburgers on a stick”
that I had learned how to make in camp cooked over an outdoor fire. When doing this, I left a small amount of
hamburger wrapped in foil outside- I knew it was there, but I couldn’t find
it. When I discovered it a few days
later, it had turned into a living being- Maggots! I was both completely grossed out and
fascinated at the same time. How could
hamburger turn into maggots? I thought I
had discovered the missing link or proof of something. I believed the hamburger had evolved into
maggots. Now of course I was wrong, but
I didn’t know that. What I had
discovered was the process of decay, not creation.
Right
or wrong, still, it was enough to put that first chink in my concept of a
creator God. It allowed me to
question. Was God really the powerful
father, creator of the universe, reigning supreme over beast, fowl and
man? Or was it possible that there were
other forces at play that helped to shape and form who we really are? If God accepted help, was he really God? Who was that God “out there?” A supernatural being? Creator?
Intervener? The old man in the
sky? The classical view is that God is
the finger shaker. We have to believe
now for the sake of heaven later. God is
the guy we can live with after we die provided that we can pass the final
judgment. This is the image of the God I
knew as a child. A God found only in
churches. I don’t think my experience
is unique.
But
most, if not all of us question God at some point. Some aspects of life start to chip away at
our notions, making it impossible to believe all that we once did, whether it’s
due to finding maggots or some other scientific evidence that challenges
us. Most of us here have changed our
concept of what God is.
Polls
show that 95% of people in America believe in God. We should take God seriously, if not for
ourselves, then because we are part of a culture that does believe. God matters.
If affects the credibility of our faith.
It affects how we see our religious life. And we can still take God seriously without
absolutizing our image of God.
God
as absolute, intervening father up in the sky is the God of Supernatural
theism. Paul Tillich says this is bad
theology. He says this point of view is
wrong because it sees God as being beside us but separate from us, and as such is part of the whole of reality.
Tillich says that the consequence of thinking of God as a separate being leads
to atheism. God is not a separate
reality, but is ultimate reality. God is the God above God who remains when
supernatural theism disappears.[1]
In
other words, when the God of our childhood disappears after we discover maggots
where there once was meat, when we can no longer believe the “Finger pointer in
the sky” story, we are left with nothing- only an atheism. Many UU’s are comfortable in this
position. It leaves me feeling sad and
wanting more. I want to believe that we
are connected on a deeper level than by our own actions bringing us
together. Process Theology creates this
link for me.
The
Process God is not a being, not a person.
God is the ground of our being.
God is bigger than our dogmas and doctrines make him /her. God is ultimate reality, and that reality
changes as our experiences and ideas change.
As we learn and grow, our universe expands. As our universe expands, ultimate reality
expands, embracing all our wisdom of the earth, nature, all religions and all
people. We change and God changes. This is a God that is found everywhere, in
every aspect of life. It’s not
restricted to the church.
This
is the God of Process Theology. Life is
continually evolving and changing.
Nothing is static. We can’t stay stuck because everything around us
changes and that affects us, whether we want it to or not. God is the ground of the world becoming. Process Theology takes its cues from living
systems which are always in a state of transformation. Rosemary Radford Ruether said, “To be human
is to be in a state of process, to change and to die… A historical project that
has to be undertaken again and again in changing circumstances.” We are participants in a complex and fragile
web of relationships in which each being has some value.
We look to
nature to see changing patterns. New
buds form sprouting into full leaves that protect us from the hot sun in
summer. But cold returns and snaps the
leaves into many colors before they fall to the earth to replenish the
soil. The soil, now rich with nutrients,
stores and feeds the tree as it rests for the winter. It nurtures the hidden buds as they plan
their spring return, the cycle completed.
The tree is changed. It’s trunk a
year wider, its roots deeper, it leaves reaching taller.
Process
theology looks at the God of Panentheism, “Being in God,” rather than
Pantheism, “Being God”. The difference
is that God is not a separate being from us, God is in us and in all things. God is inside and outside, transcendent and
immanent. God is relational, right here
in the here and now. All that happens in
the world contributes to the inclusive life of the whole. God is not moralistic, literalistic or
exclusive. God is not about beliefs and requirements. God is not concerned about the afterlife,
but of our lives now.
According
to Borg, the central premise of panentheism is this:[2]
1.
God is real
2.
We have a relationship with God
3.
That relationship will change your life.
God
is as natural as breathing. This leads
us to God as spirit, not God as king, finger pointer or rulemaker. Marcus Borg says, “We open to the God who is
already here.”
Many
of us Unitarian Universalists who have come to this faith from a Christian Tradition
have abandoned God because, let’s face it.
God the rulemaker, finger pointer, pulpit banger is just no fun. Fear guides the relationship, not faith.
But
what if God were more than that? What if
God were spirit, and all we needed to do was to open ourselves to the guidance
of the spirit? Who is this God we Never
Knew?
Borg
outlines many alternative visions of God.
All of these are biblically based.
God as Rock: God is my refuge and strength- very present
in times of trouble. Someone we can lean
on and feel safe.
God as Mother: God is nurturing, caring, comforting, and
protecting her children.
God as intimate father: Jesus calls God “Abba” meaning papa. God is trusted, close at hand.
God as Wisdom, Sophia: The wise woman. She performs divine functions, and is a
divine presence. She offers guidance and
nourishment.
God as lover: We delight for each other, prize and value
each other. The flip side is jealousy
and betrayal.
God as Journey companion: God travels with us. God carries us when we are troubled. God is
our pillar of light by night and the cloud by day. God is the good shepherd who travels with the
sheep. He offers us protection, nourishment,
and seeks us when we go astray. In the
bible, we often see Jesus journeying with his disciples.
The God of
Panentheism is not restricted to Christianity.
Each religion offers us an alternative vision of reality that we can
embrace. Hindus are polytheistic, and yet they understand these Gods to be
aspects of one God, one ultimate reality. Their metaphor is Indra’s net. Each
intersection of the web has a jewel which is a holograph of the whole. We can see this on a spider web that is
covered in dew. Each drop reflects the
whole. Buddhists don’t believe in God,
and yet they believe in emptiness, a philosophy that underscores the
interconnectedness of all life.
If Process
Theologians are correct, this is a world of experience and every experience
includes an experience of God. Our
choices will shape and define a unique expression of God that will create
meaning for us in our lives. As we
become, God becomes. God is a verb.
Why
does having a God in process matter? An
alternative vision of God can ground us in our Judeo/Christian roots. Not the God we never knew, but the God we
once knew a long time ago. It is the God
of the alternative voice. These images
emphasize the nearness of God. We live
within the spirit. It is a God of
closeness, relationship, and connection.
It is a God of male and female metaphors, more inclusive to all
people. God is man/woman and
non-human. God is not just an
intellectual image, but also one that touches our heart and soul.
When
you look at God through these other metaphors, all of life looks
different. Creation is evolving. The human condition is not about sin and
guilt, but our relationship or estrangement with God. Sin is different. It’s not about failure to follow rules, but
about failure in compassion, a betrayal of relationship.
God
as “lord” and “king” looks different.
God is a radiant spirit, not a power over us. God is a liberator of our spirit within, not
a dominator. God is love, God is
compassionate, one who grieves with us in times of sorrow or immense evil.
Who
can say that they have not experienced God?
Witnessed this spirit? God is the
creative spirit that makes two great things better than they can be alone.
Each
creative moment is born in God’s loving care.
I witness God in music, poetry, and theatre. I love the music of the Indigo Girls. Emily is a great guitar player and
writer. Amy has a depth of passion and
intensity. Alone they are great, but
together they are brilliant. Together
transcendence is achieved that neither could accomplish alone. Henry Weiman calls this “Creative
interchange.”
Creative
interchange is a process in which two forces come together and create something
larger than the sum of their parts. Weiman was particularly interested in this
process as it occurred involving people, and believed that such moments are the
times “in which new meaning and value emerges." He said that in these
moments, we human beings do our human part in creating the universe. In other
words, in moment of creative interchange, God sparks up. We catch a glimpse of the ultimate reality.
I witness
God in Nature. Whether it is a
torrential rain, or the beauty of the rising sun, I feel the majesty and power
of something greater than me.
I witness
God at the bedside in the hospital. God
is there in the suffering with us.
Suffering can open us to a deeper relationship with God, and so can the
moments of intense joy, such as childbirth.
I don’t remember a birth that I’ve seen where I did not feel like it was
a miracle. We are raw and open to the
spirit.
I witness
God in sacred ritual. From serving
communion to performing weddings and child dedications, I feel God’s witness to
the event. It is not just a service, God
is present.
I
experience God in breathing, silence, journaling and exercise. Silence provides a sacred space and pause to
go deeper. Spiritual practices bring
awareness of body and mind together in a larger cosmos. I’ve had experiences with Kundalini Yoga
where I felt the intensity of leaving my body, and I had sacred space in daily
activities such cleaning the house or working in my garden. The Buddhists say, “Chop wood, carry water”
as a way to meditate.
In these
moments, in the choices we make, we are co-creators in this reality. We have become and are becoming. We never step the same place twice. Process Theology is compatible with Unitarian
Universalist beliefs because it holds that freedom is an inherent feature of
reality. The universe is the beginning
of events that are self creative, from quarks to human minds. Without freedom, there would be no
world. God actively works to give us
agency. We evolve free as human
beings.
We are not
held captive. Our old ideas about God
should not limit or force us into a corner and limit our sense of connectedness
with all of life. God’s plans do not
begin and end with us. God’s activity
draws from the past and extends into the future. A future that is bright with the love of God,
moving us in a creative encounter with the world. The God we know is the God we define based on
our experience. This is a living,
breathing God. Not static or constrained,
but free to move the world with its loving presence. This is the God I hope you come to know and
can keep alive in your hearts. May we
enter that relationship with healing and wholeness. And may it change your life.
Blessed be.