This week: God as partial. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com. We have to read all the stories of Scripture to come up with a picture of our God. And yet, as we each read those stories and put together the tapestry of the image of the God we call our own, there will be many pictures and they will not look the same. God as partial is the God with whom we must sit down and look at from different directions so that we may be introduced to another aspect of God's rich character. At the same time, it is within that dialogue that we must also be aware of the many aspects of our God that we need to shed. Once again, I was alarmed by how there are so many images of God who has the willingness and the desire to exclude or restrict or simply condemn people - sometimes forever and ever. God as partial will be the God who will deny the very character of the unbounded love and forgiveness of God. This character is always expand beyond our own forecasts of when it will all stop or reach the limits of its bounty. God as partial is that cold water in the face that does not let us settle with a cheap version of the God of all grace and love. The cheap version - the partial version that all of us hold onto to some degree - will always leave out others and somehow always include us. Odd - but then it is God as partial. O God of love and new life, awaken us again to the wonder and beauty of your never-ending Reign of love. Amen. |
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