Defining God
Poetry Friday
Beloveds,
Defining God is quite an undertaking in a few sentences, right? Even if you don’t believe in God, you probably have a definition and a reason why. Well, I hope you will not be disappointed that I am not sharing a definition! Instead, I want to invite you to think about your own definition of the Creator. I have been thinking about how our definition of God (or what thought or feeling you put to the Divine) limits or expands our views not only of ourselves, but also, of those around us. In other words, do we define ourselves by how we define our deity? Do we define our deity by the experiences we have been through in our lives?
Last week, a new follower sent me an invitation to read. It is a long, thoughtful piece he had written as an invitation for me to give up who I am (most pointedly who I love) and accept his definition of God. His definition is of a binary God - and his message to me was: one woman, one man, good and evil. I support this persons liberty to define God as he wishes. He wrote several pages to convince me to give up my “sinful lifestyle ” so I might be saved. I appreciate his concern for me, a complete stranger.
And, he did me a favor because it led me to think about how we can put ourselves in a position to worry about another’s relationship with the Creator instead of trusting in the Divine to work in ways we may not understand. I wondered if we have a definition of the Holy One that trusts in the journey we are all born to experience here on earth. One persons journey may not look at all like the one we are experiencing and yet it might be very sacred and holy. Instead of changing people to conform to our definition of God or our religion, can we be curious about how the Divine is working in another persons life?
I invite you to think about your own beliefs and sacred worth. Does it include an openness of heart and mind to the vibration and expansiveness of Holy Mystery? Are you open to all that God provides as experience in this life we have here on earth? Are you curious to know if the Creator experiences our world through all the differences in each of our lives? Have you wondered if we are all creators of the here and now in communion with the Holy One? Or, is life preordained and we are just walking through a life already planned for us? And lastly, can we trust in the Divine to be at work in each and every one of us or do we feel we need to intervene to help God out?
Maybe one day over coffee you might want to explore some of these questions for yourself? Open yourself to wonder if your definition of God is one that opens you to sharing with the One a full experience of who you are. We are created in the image of the Divine to experience our true self and to live it fully. Let love be your guide. So many expressions of the Divine enrich us and make us more whole. Reach out and claim this richness!
Blessings,
Jace
An African Invocation of Divine Names by Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator
Ancient deity,
Unbreakable stone,
Consoler and comforter providing salvation,
Grandfather who alone is the great one,
Watcher of everything who is not surprised by anything,
Piler of rocks into towering mountains,
Divider of night and day,
Response: We praise You!
Sun too bright for our gaze,
Eye of the sun,
Artist-in-chief,
Drummer of life,
Owner of our head,
Large and deep pot,
My feathered one,
Mother of people,
Response: Bless us!
Great nursing mother,
Great eye,
Great rainbow,
Great personal guardian spirit,
Unsurpassed great spirit,
Great source of being,
Great mantle which covers us,
Great leopard with its own forest,
Great healer of eternal life,
Great water-giver,
Great well,
Greatest of friends,
Great spider, the all-wise one,
Response: Enlighten us!
Controller of destiny in the universe,
All-powerful, never defeated,
Father of laughter,
King without blemish,
Possessor of whiteness,
Whiteness without patterns,
Caller-forth of the branching trees,
Unique great one to whom one can take petitions and requests for counsel,
Response: Hear us!
The first who always existed and will never die,
The only one bull in the world,
The one who sees both the inside and the outside,
The one we meet everywhere,
The one who is in all ages, everywhere and at all times,
The one who turns things upside down,
The one who has power to destroy completely,
The one who makes the sun set,
The one who gave everything on this earth and can take everything away,
Response: Guide us!
Axe that fears no thistle,
Hoe that fears no soil,
Ram of majestic sinews and majestic carriage,
Hero who never flees before the enemy,
Big boundless hut,
Victor over death,
Response: Protect us!
Compiled from John Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion (London: Heinemann, 1975); Robert E. Hood, Must God Remain Greek? Afro Cultures and God-Talk (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990); Joseph Healey and Donald Sybertz, Towards an African Narrative Theology (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1996), and other sources.https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/view/18389/theology-brewed-in-an-african-potMary Hunt, Evolutionary Faith By Diarmuid O'Murchu Spiritual Quotation "I suggest that we start by holding our God lightly, letting her go and evolve rather than guarding a tight-fisted faith. This way we can be more flexible in our world view, shifting as we must with new knowledge and insight. If our God/ess is not big, elastic and embracing enough to make the change, then I wonder what we mean by the divine." From spiritualityandpractice.com
Rami Shapiro, Minyan
“The essence of reality is an all-encompassing Unity that embraces and indeed generates relative diversity. It is not that you and I are creatures fashioned by God. It is rather that you and I are temporary manifestations of God. We are real. We are worthwhile. We are unique. What we are not is eternal, separate, and independent. We are God, though certainly not the totality of God.”
From https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com