Dear People Whom God Loves,
Theism This describes the belief that God is personal. That God is someone. That God knows and loves. That God is involved in the universe. That God is interested in us. That we are called to worship. That we can have a relationship with God. That prayer is valuable. That while God is in the universe, God is other than the universe.
People who have this belief vary widely in how they image God and how God is involved in the universe. God may be seen as vengeful, critical, distant, or benevolent.
The shadow side of this belief is that it is often understood as God being a Supreme Being. That is that God is the greatest being in the universe. That God is personal in the way that we are but, at the same time, far greater. That God knows as we know, but far beyond the way we know. That God loves as we love, but far beyond the way we love. That God is powerful as we are powerful, but far beyond the power that we have.
The danger here is that while all of these attributes of us humans point (although lamely) to what God is . . .and that is good. . .and that is also good that we believe that God has these attributes in a way that is far beyond us, we easily forget that God is radically different from us. And that God remains Mystery that can never be plumbed. It is good to remember that when we think that we have a handle on how to describe God, what we are describing is not God. It is so easy for us to be worshipping not God, but the idol we have made. It is helpful to remember that our images and words are like what God is. At the same time, they are not like what God is. Finally, that God is far beyond what they are. All of our images and doctrines (while immensely valuable) are merely fingers pointing to the moon. We must look beyond the finger in order to look to the moon. We don’t worship the images and words (no matter how important they are). We are called to surrender to the Holy Mystery. That surrender is filled with humility and trust. We are confident, not because of how much we know, not because we need to think we are right, but because we are embraced by the Love that holds us.
Smile, God Loves You,
Father Clay
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