We believe that God is both incomprehensible and knowable.
Over and over again, scripture reminds us that we, as humans, will never fully comprehend the whole being of God. Author, Benjamin Myers writes, “God is too full, too communicative, too bright and piercing” to be easily spoken of.
But, at the same time, scripture teaches us that we can have personal knowledge of God. Among the ways we gain this personal knowledge of God is through the varied and beautiful images that scripture uses to describe God.
In fact, scripture contains hundreds of images to describe God. The problem is, we have a tendency to fixate on just three or four of those images. And I think, when we fixate on just a couple of images, we unintentionally truncate our relationship with God, and maybe even cut ourselves off from the gift of a full and deep understanding of God.
The familiar words become something like placeholders. We end up speaking the words so inattentively that we obscure the reality of whose place they hold.
But perhaps, all this biblical speech about God – about what God is like, and how we, with our finite minds, might imagine God – is a summons to reveal God’s abundance. Perhaps it is an invitation to know God more fully and more deeply.
This summer, beginning on Sunday, we will begin a new sermon series called Pictures of God, exploring the various images of God found throughout scripture. As we explore these images together, some will be familiar, but some might seem strange; some will be welcome, but some might feel more challenging.
But each image is an invitation to relate to God in a unique way.
For example, if God is King, then we become the king’s subjects who look up to God, focusing on God’s sovereignty and transcendence. Or if God is Shepherd, then we become sheep and look ahead to where God is leading focusing on God’s care and protection. Or If God is Friend, we too are friends, who look to God standing beside us focusing on God’s companionship
One summer won’t possibly be enough time to cover all the scriptural images of God, but I hope over the next twelve or so weeks, you will hear an invitation to discover not only who God is, but also what our relationship with God might become.
And I hope, that over the summer we will develop an image of God that is sufficiently beautiful and good and true, so that we might discover more and more of the love God intends for us to know and to experience.
I hope you’ll join us this summer!
Grace and peace,
Kimmy