Thinking abount God

Vicar's letter
The question today is not so much do you believe in God as what sort of God do you believe in. There are those who seem to have it all sorted out. God is like this and this and he wants from persons that and that. Others are much vaguer, not sure what they think, and perhaps they change views from situation to situation. From the long standpoint of the almost two thousand years of Christian Tradition, of the life of the Church, there are problems with both of these approaches. Experience shows that God is continually making things anew; if Mary had a rigid view of what God wanted would she have been so open to the message of the angel Gabriel; would Joseph have taken Mary as his wife in her condition? The experience of the centuries suggests we both attend to the great stories of the bible and are open to new leading by God.

There is an element of being a Christian today which requires walking on a tightrope. There is a narrow path, too far one way or the other way and we fall. Too much vagueness and there is no firm ground, no depth to assist when great challenges come; too much definiteness and we miss God's continual acting anew in the world today.   These are the sorts of reasons why the Church places so much emphasis both on corporate worship and private prayer. We hear together the bible read aloud; we read the bible on our own; we pray together, we pray in the hiddenness of our homes. In this way our faith is deepened and the resources to follow where our Lord leads will grow.

We can all find words we can generally agree on, although some and from time to time there will be hesitations. One version might go: God the holy and undivided Trinity, through the combined actions of Father, Word and Spirit made this beautiful world for all creatures to enjoy and live in harmony with each other. God gave to his people freedom to walk with God or away from God. As people walk away from God and his ways, destructive things can occur which are transformed by the consequences of the Word becoming flesh in Jesus of Nazareth who showed the world how to love and so redeem, transform the bad. As Jesus returned to his Father, he sent the Holy Spirit to animate his people the Church to continue his work of transforming love until the will of God comes so completely on earth as in heaven that God's kingdom comes. The follower of Christ will attend to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, through the Church so that God's call is heeded and God's world transformed.

It is the detailed working out of this sort of understanding (for others will helpfully use other words)  that requires from us both a humility that seeks deeper understanding, growing into  fuller truth and a deeper love; and also a tenacity that comes from faith and hope that helps us persevere  when the going becomes tough.

Let us find ways of understanding our differences with respect so we work together with humility, grace, faith, hope and love for that coming of God's kingdom for which we pray each day.


Christopher Morgan-Jones

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