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Be the Church

Posted: Mon, May 13, 2019
“If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we get rid of that concept of God.” ~James Baldwin I remember being summoned to the principal’s office in elementary school for being part of [...]

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski

“If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we get rid of that concept of God.” ~James Baldwin
I remember being summoned to the principal’s office in elementary school for being part of a group that was bullying a student. I was scared fearing punishment. I was also ashamed that I was part of belittling someone else. I viewed the Principal as the Great Enforcer. I was shocked to experience a very different Principal than the one I expected. He said, “Steven, you are so much better than this behavior. This is not like you. This is not your best self. Don’t listen to peer pressure. Listen to that voice inside you that will always call you to something better.”
I was summoned to the Principal’s office. It turned out I had nothing to fear because I was being summoned to a larger and more loving life.
Are you a more loving, forgiving, generous person than you were 12 months ago? Is your heart larger and more able to hold the suffering of others? Are you free or bound? If your theology doesn’t enlarge you and engage you in healing this broken world you need a new theology.
You are being summoned, summoned to a life larger than the one you are living. Concepts of God that shrink our spirits and harden our hearts need to be abandoned. We are at a threshold of history where we need to be healed of our image of God. Imagine if we understand ourselves to be summoned as healers ourselves, summoned to the holy task of healing this broken world.
Listen…how might you be summoned, even today, to something larger, freer and more loving?
When you feel like you can’t explain your faith, go wildly love someone who really needs to know they are loved without stopping to ask whether they are deserving of love – you just articulated a theology worth keeping.