November 20, 2016 ~ Chenango Valley Home ~ Reign of Christ ~ Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Pentecost and the Last Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proper 29 ~ Thirty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Jeremiah 23:1-6; Luke 1:68-79 **; Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 46; Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43 ** No Psalm assigned with this reading ~ The Sunday Before the Secular Holiday Known as Thanksgiving ~ Tuesday, next (11/22), is Turkey Day!
The Fulness of God
“God wanted all perfection / to be found in Christ, / and all things / are to be reconciled / to God through Christ— / everything in heaven / and everything on earth— / for in the Christ / all the fullness of God / was pleased to dwell,....” — Colossians 1:19-20a.
Many churches use what we commonly call a Creed. Generally, creeds set out a series of statements which we take to be a set of beliefs. There are some churches which say that creeds— this set of statements— are what you must believe.
In the Congregational tradition— my church is in the Congregational tradition— we much prefer to not use the term creed when we talk about a set of beliefs. We use the term Affirmation of Faith.
The implication is we do not tell you what to believe. Our assumption is that what you believe is your problem but it is also your privilege.
After all, you, yourself, on your own, need to be in relationship with God and you need to work on your relationship with God, yourself. I can give you advice about that relationship but I cannot do it for you. Therefore, I certainly cannot tell you what your relationship with God is like. Only you know what it’s like.
That having been said, one way of explaining sets of beliefs is to say there is a difference between dogma and doctrine. Dogma is when someone else tells you what you have to believe. Doctrine, on the other hand, is an explanation of what you, yourself, and perhaps others along with you, might believe.
Hence, at my church we do use Affirmations of Faith. Sometimes we use the ancient Creeds of the Church, such as The Nicene Creed. But, since when we use a creed we invite people to proclaim what they believe, we sometimes use other forms. As it happens, at the service this very morning we used a hymn as an Affirmation of Faith.
That hymn would be familiar to many of you. The title is God the Omnipotent. The first verse reads this way. “God the Omnipotent, boldly ordaining thunder and lightening Your strength to display. Bring forth compassion where violence is reigning; give to us peace in our time, we pray.”
The title of that piece, God the Omnipotent, presents us with an interesting conundrum about God. Generally people think the word omnipotent, especially when applied to God, means “all powerful.”
Indeed, some people make the argument that God is in control. But is that what omnipotent means? Does omnipotent mean God is all powerful, as in ‘God is in control?’ Or does omnipotent mean something else when we apply the term to God? (Slight pause.)
We find these words in the work known as Colossians: “God wanted all perfection / to be found in Christ, / and all things / are to be reconciled / to God through Christ— / everything in heaven / and everything on earth— / for in the Christ / all the fullness of God / was pleased to dwell,....” (Slight pause.)
Here is a controversial statement. God is not in control. At least God is not in control the way our modern, secular society thinks about someone, anyone, being in control. And, as a Christian, that God is not in control in that secular way comforts me.
Why do I say both that ‘God is in control?’ fails to be an accurate way of describing the omnipotence of God and that the idea that God is not in control comforts me? Four reasons come to mind.
First, if you say ‘God is in control’ it is really hard to avoid implying God causes atrocities. If you do say God is in control, then everything from earthquakes to the Holocaust becomes the responsibility of God. You tell me if you think that’s a good idea.
Second, sometimes we say God is in control because we are scared, really, really afraid. Hence, we do not say God is in control because it is true. We say God is in control because there is much in life that makes us anxious. So, we use saying God is in control as a way of being less anxious, less fearful.
Next, in saying God is in control some people do mean “God’s own emotions are in check.” But I have a hard time believing God is cool and calm when violence, hatred, and oppression rear their ugly heads. So that does not seem like a valid way to think about an omnipotent God, either.
Last, saying ‘God is in control’ is a way to be passive. Example: “My child just got punched in the face by another kid. But that’s O.K. These things happen. And after all, God is in control!”
So what or who is this so called omnipotent God? What or who is this so called omnipotent God who so many claim is all powerful, this God we hear about in the hymn God the Omnipotent? (Slight pause.)
The hymn actually give us the answer to the question about who God is in the lyric I read earlier. (Quote:) “Bring forth compassion where violence is reigning;...”
God is, you see, good. God is a God of compassion. And that is what omnipotent refers to. And, for what it’s worth, I don’t need God to be “in control” to be good.
I just need to God to be close. I need God to be present. I need God to care. I need God to be hopeful, to have a vision, a dream for creation. This close, present, caring, gritty and hopeful God is the God for Whom I have affection.
This is the God who entices me to be good, myself. This is the God who entices me to participate, myself, in the work of God. And this God has graced we humans with creativity and with passion.
This God is the God Who has graced we humans with a longing for justice— the justice of God, not human justice. This God is the God who invites us to work with the grace and with the love with which this God surrounds us.
Therefore, I believe a theology of divine control needs to be rejected. After all, controlling God is nothing more than a manipulative God. Further, to say God is a controlling God mis-reads what omnipotence is about. A theology of divine control needs to be rejected because a theology of control all too readily allows not good but evil to flourish under the guise of God being in control.
When a theology of control speaks that is not the voice of God speaking. It is the voice of some humans who seek to be in control.
So, what does it mean that God is omnipotent? It means that God is with us. And this gives me hope: God is with us. [1] It also means, as it says in Colossians, that we can see the fulness of God in Jesus. Amen.
Chenango Valley Home
11/20/2016
[1] A lot of this reasoning is taken from an article by Matthew Boswell, the pastor of Camas Friends Church, in Camas, Washington and re-worked for this context.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithforward/2016/11/god-is-not-in-control/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NL%20Best%20of%20Patheos&utm_content=287
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