God Right Here

Some years ago, I asked the students in a confirmation class I was teaching if they would attempt to draw a picture of what they thought God might look like.  

Several of the students sketched a portrait of an old man with a long white beard.  Others toyed with the idea of God as a flash of light.  A couple of students drew ancient symbols of the Trinity.  And a handful of others simply left their pages blank.  

What do you picture, when you try to conjure up images of God in your imagination?  

If you're like most people who believe in God, you probably imagine God much like those students did.  And I would also wager that you tend to think of God as being "somewhere else" looking down upon us.  

Richard Rohr once wrote, "The belief that God is "out there" is the basic dualism that is tearing us all apart." The idea that God is somehow above and unconnected to our material reality is a destructive notion.  It affects the way we treat the earth, our bodies, and one another. 

It's true that the infinite mysteries of God will always be beyond our comprehension, and to even try to imagine or name those mysteries limits the idea of God.  In other words, to try to describe God in your own words or images is an exercise in futility. 

However, as Christians, we believe that God is not unknown to us.  We have a living example of who God is in Jesus himself.  

And to those of us who claim to follow Jesus, is given the task of carrying on the mission that Jesus initiated---to bring the Good News that the God so loved the world that he has done everything to save it.  

E. Stanley Jones put it like this:  

"We cannot merely talk about Christ--we must bring him.  He must be a living vital reality--closer than breathing and nearer than hands and feet.  We must be 'God-bearers.'"  

May you be the very hands and feet and breath of Jesus to the world today and every day.  May you show by your words and your deeds that God is here, present and moving among us.  God is not somewhere else---God is right here, right now.  

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.