I Blush to Recall

Oh my, I just remembered a note I wrote on the bulletin as a youth to a friend during a worship service! As a pastor and a somewhat practical theologian for many years now, I blush to recall my naivite, but remember I was young and though thoroughly churched from infancy up, I didn’t really have enough experience to discern the depths. What did I write, oh so many years ago as a 16 or 17 year old?

--“God must get tired of hearing us talk about Jesus all the time.”--

What brought this to mind was an essay posted this week by a Canadian pastor/leadership blogger, Carey Nieuwhof. I admit I don’t read everything he posts. Usually, I find what I read thought provoking at least. This week he posted on 5Surprising Characteristics of Churches that Are Actually Reaching the NextGeneration. I have noticed that he does like to make lists, but what snagged my memory from the deep reaches of my past was his second item: Jesus over God. Immediately, he says, that “of course, Jesus is God, and God is Jesus.” His “tweet-able” explanation is: “God can mean many things in our culture. Jesus is far more specific.” True.

I could enter a deep mystical and thoroughly obscurant understanding of how our God is Three-in-One. I dare you to ask me, but if you do be prepared to be there for a while. Do not ask me until after October 15, though, please.

I get, though, why for many people—even most, I dare say—Jesus is far more approachable than a seemingly far removed God, and I don’t think it bothers God in the least. After all, it is because “God so loved the world…” God—our Three-in-One God—chose to come among us as one of us in order to show us the face of love. So I get why for folks speaking and singing of Jesus is more accessible. Someone touchable; knowable, in a way; and thoroughly familiar with our experiences in life.

I don’t think God minded my naïve note, and I don’t think God minds some folks preferring to talk of Jesus. After all, God is relationship from before the beginning, and whatever draws us into relationship with the One who is the Source, Presence, and End of Creation is just fine. We will understand it all better one day when we are face to face. For the time being, let’s fully engage in being the people are the face and hands of God for the world.

John 3:16-17

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”