“What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us, trying to make his way home.” Joan Osborn

How did we all end up so fucking certain about our origins, the earth and settled on our ideas about God? Is life so stormy that we are ready to take refuge in any harbor we come upon? We are tangled and trapped by our limited perspectives. Some of us have been awoken to the reality that we are not alone in the universe and that this all did not happen by random chance. We cannot be certain of how it all came to be and religion and science are wonderful tools to use to seek for answers. As a Jesus person, I do celebrate and revere a very old creation poem that the ancient Hebrews passed down. This poem strongly suggests that humans have a designer, a master craft person, who possesses infinite creative talent. These enslaved Hebrews who passed it along orally for hundreds of years, professed a hope in a God who is concerned with the underdog, those marginalized, the poor and oppressed. It is not surprising that this God image arose with those who needed a hope in a unique redeemer that is with the oppressed. Their vision gives me hope and it has inspired humanity to hope in redemption for creation, the human condition. It’s understandable that humans would imagine a God that was like them in many ways. My friend Rob Bell says, “We have a crisis of imagination.” We have glimpses of inspiration where we can momentarily see beyond our nose. We must be willing to visit other harbors, consider how others find safety and meaning as we have in the storm of life. Its ok to enjoy the place you rest in, but we cannot war with others because they have found other territory.

Today in the modern world its easy to see the tribalism that dominated their God image, but it takes time and care to uncover the new revelation that they where uncovering at the same time. In good humor I would like to add this to the Jewish creation story; On the seventh day while God rested, humans created God in their image and said it was good. We each directly and unconsciously craft our understanding of God. It is hard to imagine a designer who is not inline with what we see, because like I said, we have a crisis of imagination. We desire revenge, struggle to forgive, recourse to systematized violence, oppress those weaker than ourselves and as humans have imagined God in the same fashion. I have a faith that the true God stands apart from my idolatry and patiently tolerates this ignorance. The true God allows evil to be done in his name, but his grace is ever present in our personal and cooperate violence throughout the pages of history. It seems the divine graciously understands our human condition and is patient with us in our dim understanding of reality. I hope and discover that God is present in our brightest hopes and darkest fears.