Reflections for 5/10

"God for many Western people today becomes a projected image of the self: what we need, like or want God to be. There's not really meeting the Other, the not me, the non-self."(R. Rohr "Radical Grace" p.181)

Genesis tells us that we are made in the image of God, yet, we spend most of our time making God in our image. This happens sometimes with the physical, the old white man with the beard images. If we let go of that, I still find that my own biases and opinions are often exactly the same as God's. This is in spite of the fact that scripture tells us that our ways are not like God's ways.

The problem is that while I may want God to be this everything is always right, God loves me warts and all, it ignores the reality that God does have some real expectations. The flip side is also true that if I'm a judgemental person, and I want God condemning everyone, I too have ignored the biblical witness.

The problem again is not the inconsistency of God, but the false impression that God sees everything the way I do. Instead God invites me to try to see the world from the Divine perspective. And that is not easy to do.

The beginning place in making that attempt is to first get real about our own biases, and our own prejudices. When we can be honest about our own shortcomings we may not need to project them onto God, and instead might be able to see God more clearly.

Blessings,
Ed