The Jehova brand. Also, "God is too big"

Promoting the Jehova brand?

Sermon in the run-up to Lent included the idea of talking with God in the terms he uses (he knows every hair of our bodies and knows us even before we are born; his love is boundless), talking to ourselves in those same loving terms (to love yourself as you do your neighbor; or, as normally quoted: to love your neighbor as yourself), but also to talk to others in this same love-filled way. In other words, we are meant not just to fellowship with each other, but with those unloved in the wider society; to embody God's hospitality and hospitable nature; his love. We are meant to ask, "can I pray for you" or "you know that God loves you and me both."

     Jesus mingled with all and any, and most notably the diseased, distressed or unloved, socially invisible people of little worldly power or means. In his words and the record of how he used his days, there seem to be few overt references or attribution to God the Creator. He does refer to "my father in heaven" but his own teaching and healing he does one on one, not on behalf of God as some sort of agent or authorized actor who represents and promotes the God brand, making sure to credit God in things small and large.

     So by that example, we may also act one to one, without directly referencing or explaining God's place in the interaction and relationship, whether temporary or long-running. God will be in the front of one's mind and at the bottom of one's heart, possibly triggering or motivating or rewarding one's mind, but seen from the other side of the person receiving your care and interchange, it is just you (the face of God; his hands and feet). So it seems we need to step out with high hopes, good intention and filled with some joy in the knowledge of God there right beside us.

God is too big

We speak of being saved by God; of the infinity of God, but so much of our energy and intention and wondering while walking the mortal highways and by-ways is about cultivating a relationship with God - a process rather than a single harvest to attain and finish with. So really when we speak of God's place in our lives, and our places in God's world, it would be more accurate to say that we are saved by the unfolding and deepening of knowing God; that is, being saved by the relationship and the knowing of God. The better you know God and God's ways and God's world, the better also God's touch can reach you. If there is little or no relationship, then neither will there be much knowing and results from God's touch and presence in your life. In other words, trying to picture "God" is hard because infinity can't be embrassed. So it would be better to view "God" as the small part that personally has touched us and established a growing relationship with us.