Religious language and actions have always fascinated me. I recall the first Catholic service I attended when I was in college and the amount of genuflecting and bellringing and bowing that took place – it was all very different from my sparse United Methodist upbringing. I had become familiar with worship in synagogues after attending many Bar and Bat Mitzvahs as a teenager, and the intimacy of the teaching from the rabbis was similar to the experience of many of the pastors I grew up with. As I attended different services over the years, I have been amazed at the wonderful diversity of worship, and it has taught me that God is one – but God is also experienced in many different ways. This is a testament to the truth that none of us can truly define the truth about God. It also shows me the folly of attempting to codify how we should worship and speak of the Almighty.
We should always watch what we say about God because our words are limited and our minds cannot fathom what God truly is. When we would prepare to receive communion when I was a child, we would say that we were not worthy to eat the crumbs off of the floor. Some churches call God Father constantly while others speak of God in more neutral words. Muslims call God Allah – some Jews write it down as G_d. There are people who believe that God accepts us universally, regardless of our behavior or level of faith – others describe heaven as only holding a particular kind of person. We use a lot of words to describe the indescribable – we should probably be more careful about that.
When the people of Corinth (I, chapter 15) asked the Apostle Paul what kind of body they would have in the resurrection, he called them fools! He went on to explain that we don’t know; all we know is that we will be like Jesus. Our language and minds and imagination are amazing, but they are not so remarkable that we can conclusively define and describe holy things. And yet, we continue to argue over them as if we, alone, had perfect insight into who and what and where and how God is. We don’t, so let’s watch what we say about God, because our words about the way others see God can be hurtful and wrong, and our judgement of the way others experience God will, Jesus said, be turned back on us. As long as you keep God in ways that don’t hurt others, I will never challenge what you believe. And I hope you will do the same for me.
Prayer – Holy God, our words are so limited and limiting, but it is all we have. Please accept our praise and thanks. Amen.
Today’s art is “…and man created God in his own image” by Rassouli.