Dinner.
Animal.
Dance.
Teacher .
Read them again, slowly: what images come to mind?
Now try this one:
God
What image are you thinking of?
An old man with a long white beard?
Sitting on a thrown?
Almost ghostlike?
With a spear?
See, Reader, this has been my image
And I’ve never seen a problem with it
Until someone said this in a theology class:
“I think of God as a black woman”
Um.. what?
To clarify, the person who said this was
white
male
and, oh
the professor
(Right!? I had the same thought)
It wasn’t a blanket statement.
He went on to explain:
"The world is really big.
If the story of Jesus is true
It has to be true
For all people,
Of all time,
In all places.
That doesn’t mean comprehension lacks contextual interpretation”
Interpretation:
Scripture is not a picture book.
(Hell, we’re so used to blue-eyed Jesus..
You ever imagined him with gray hairs in his beard?
If Obama can grow em in 8 years,
Lord knows Jesus has some things to be stressed about
But I digress)
‘Dinner’
First thing that come to mind is spaghetti.
If we were to ask someone in Japan?
‘Animal’
First thing that comes to mind is a dog.
If we were to ask someone in South Africa?
‘Dance’
First thing I think of is whip and nae-nae.
If we were to ask someone in Mexico?
‘Teacher’
I think of a young woman in a pencil skirt
If we were to ask a girl in Pakistan?
(She may remind you that she’s not allowed to go to school)
Let’s try this one:
God
A being that is inside and outside of time,
May or may not control the outcome of all things,
Created and sustains the sun so as it neither burns nor freezes over our planet
Became human, whilst sustaining the world, to overcome death
(Did God create death?)
To be human is to pursue God, yet, even in your certainty, always fall short.
If we were to ask someone from India, what might their image of God be?
In Italy?
Australia?
Vietnam?
Tanzania?
Down the street?
Let me say this:
Humans can’t objectify God.
God is not objectifiable.
We have no way of comprehending an incomprehensible being.
But! we do our very best by creating an image of something that is comprehensively incomprehensible..
Right!?!?
Ugh freaking theology classes.
Let me wrap this up:
When my professor gave his image of God,
He wasn’t saying that any black woman he sees is God.
And he’s not saying God is a black woman.
Michelle Obama, to my prof, is not God
(But she low-key a goddess heyyyyyy!!)
God is incomprehensible.
(Yet willing to be known? Shook)
But in our finite humanity, we have to have an image when we close our eyes.
The prof finished by confessing that
He began to transform his image of God after realizing that he was worshiping an image of himself:
An old man with a long white beard.
In our society, that often equates privilege, wealth, and wisdom.
So he challenged his own concept.
Thought of God as humble, meek and strong.
Just picture the backbone of our society, as he put it.
-
So why do you think of God the way you do?
Who do you sing to?
What are you kids learning?
Are you teaching that to them?
Is your image of God a ‘He'?
‘She'?
‘They’?
I’m not trying to persuade you any way,
(Not that I have a view to persuade you with)
but rather engage you in your own worldview.
Knowing that worldview shapes your actions
and becomes your legacy.
And lets be honest:
That’s the only thing that outlives you.
-raygen samone
