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Ungodly
I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will meditate on all your work. – Psalm 77:11a & 12a (NRSV)
There’s a problem with being made in the image of God: it’s easy to acquire a God complex.
“I have the divine right to…” “I hold the indisputable position to…” “I have the sovereign authority to…” “I have the superior righteousness to…” Fill in the blank with any example from the news. The divine right to go to war. The indisputable position to rewrite history. The sovereign authority to withhold food. The superior righteousness to deny freedom.
After all, God went to war, biblically speaking. God instituted famines, subordinated the histories of other gods, captured cities and peoples and subjected them to God’s divine will. We who are made in the image of God can surely do the same.
Of course, we might prefer not to see ourselves in the image of a warring, petty God.
More appealing might be: I have the divine right to love. The indisputable position to care for creation. The sovereign authority to demand justice. The superior righteousness to believe I am one of the “good guys” in a world of “bad guys.” Still a God complex, albeit in the image of a magnanimous God.
(There’s also the less obvious God complex, which sounds like: I am forever wrong. I hold no significance. I cannot change. I am subject to the world’s whims. Still an immovable position that inflates self-perspective.)
Against any complex, the psalms remind us: Our works are not wonders for meditation. Our images are not the grace to which people turn. Our reputations are not the power by which earth trembles or waters part.
We are made in the image of God, yes. And we are not God, ever.
To confuse the two is ungodly.
Prayer: Call my mind to meditate on you, O God—morning, noon, and night.
cross-posted with the Daily Devotional (ucc.org)
Many Miracles
The crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard [the disciples] speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? … [Yet] in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power. What does this mean?” Acts 2:6-12 excerpted (NRSV)
Language is a delightfully mystical phenomenon. Set aside the oddities of grammar and the hazards of translation, and you’ll find that language is a kind of miracle: A few funny scribbles on the page, a line here, a swoop there, and voilà! The scribbles now convey ideas that live beyond the page and the ink.
I can write three symbols, for example—R, E, D—and your mind’s eye immediately paints a picture of blooming roses, or of campfire sparks drifting up to the sky on a summer night, or of your grandmother’s red sweater that she wore to church on Pentecost and Christmas, always with a gold broach appropriate to the holiday.
Letters are only scribbles and sounds, yet when assembled together, they can capture our lived experiences. Miraculous!
As with most miracles, of course, language can be a source of confusion and conflict. Do we insist upon a single interpretation, confining language like wine to an old flask? Do we worry its inconsistencies to the point of death-by-grammar, concerned that nothing so messy as language can yield new possibilities—like the darkened sun and the bleeding moon welcoming God’s new day? When communication is strained, should our tongues retreat from language in favor of silence?
I imagine someone muttered to themselves on the day of Pentecost: “This is too many tongues, too much fire, too many languages, too much noise.” But who is God, if not the One with too many miracles still unfolding?
Prayer: I prefer to understand it all, O God. Thank heavens the Holy Spirit continues to interrupt and confuse me with new miracles.
cross-posted with the Daily Devotional (ucc.org)
Whose Glory?
Deborah, a prophetess, used to sit under a palm in the hill country of Ephraim. She summoned Barak and said to him, “The God of Israel commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor; I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you with his chariots...
Praise
Praise the Lord! Praise God, sun and moon; praise God, all you shining stars! Praise God from the earth, you sea monsters and creatures of the depths, you fire and hail, snow and frost! (Psalm 148:1-2 & 7-8, NRSV adapted) What makes the T-Rex dinosaur a scientific...
Bad News
The spirit of the Holy One is upon me, because the One has anointed me and sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of divine favor, and the day...
Advent’s Harvest
Where the ground is frozen, raspberries will ripen. Where the street is empty, dancers will parade. Where the embers are cold, a phoenix will soar. Where hope's heart is broken, compassion will bloom. on Jeremiah 33:10-11
Let It Count
Let it count in our favor, O God, that it's been a rough year. Let it be to our credit, O God, that we can still find a prayer— or at least a swear in your direction, which should also count. Put a "plus" in our column, O God, for all the strikes against us. Let it...
About Those Chickens
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for God gives sleep to those who are...
Begrudged Blessings
The Lord restored the fortunes of Job, [giving] Job twice as much as he had before. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 donkeys. He also had 7 sons and 3 daughters. - Job...
Today
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts.” Take care, siblings, that none of you has an unbelieving heart that turns from the living God. Exhort one another every day, so long as it is called “today.” - Hebrews...
Another Creed
We believe in one God: the Source, the Holy, the Mystery. We believe in one among us, Jesus Christ: Word of God, Illumination of Light, and Rock of our foundation. For our healing, he came from heaven and was born to Mary: Blessed Labor from Blessed Labor, Living Love...
