“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” Genesis 3

“A human being is part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe’; a part limited in time and space.  One experiences oneself as someone separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of one’s consciousness . . . Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and all of nature in its beauty.”[i]  Albert Einstein

What would you believe about God if no one had told you what to believe about God?  That is a question I asked quite frequently of the men I worked with for a time who were battling addictions.  Part of their struggle was coming to terms with believing in a God in whom they had been taught to believe who was distant, disinterested, and desired to punish them for their transgressions.  They found it difficult to reconcile their addictive behaviors and the injury they had caused to themselves and others, with the grace, mercy, and forgiveness that they so desperately needed, with a God who was more willing to punish than love. [ii]

How would you answer that question?  What do you believe about God?  Not the God you’ve been taught or told about, but the God who you intrinsically know–the God that you first sensed, the God  first revealed in creation?

The God of creation has been misunderstood and misinterpreted, being portrayed as an “Almighty” who seems to create simply for the purpose of punishing.  That God is capricious, cold, and condemning.  And, I have come to believe, not the real God as depicted in Genesis, or as present in life.  

The Genesis story—and it is a story that is recorded by Moses no doubt from the creation stories that had been passed down to him—reveals a God who, though sufficiently transcendent and powerful to create all things, is also immanent and in intimate communion with creation.  This is a God whose nature, if we can use that term, is comprised of love and light.

Love—This is the purpose for creation.  God is not an individual, nor individualistic.  God is a unity, a whole.  A Trinity, If you will.  God shares within God’s self love, and that love is than transmitted to all of creation.  This is why in the creation story we repeatedly hear that God sees everything as “Good”, and human beings as “Very Good.”  Creation itself is evidence of the love of God on display.

God is Light—The light that was first spoken into existence is an emanation of and from God.  It flows forth from the light source, which is God.  And it is this light that is essential to creation.

The Celtic Christians believed firmly in this God revealed so clearly in the firmament of nature, which is why so much of their spirituality reflected both love and light. Consider, for example, the Celtic crosses, which not only depicted the sacred circle, but also often-times included birds, fish, and other animals.

Recently I had a conversation with someone who is undergoing treatment for cancer.  Their sickness has brought them face-to-face with the reality of death.  As a result they have been reading about others who have had “death experiences.”  This person related to me that almost everyone, regardless of their religion, relate how they are filled with an overwhelming sense of love and light.  Makes sense—in death we are returning to the Source of both. This God of love and light is a God who creates human beings in the image of God, which is a unity not a radical individuality.  This is a God who is not distant and disinterested, but is in intimate communion with creation, described as walking in the cool of the garden.  This God desires nothing more than intimate communion with us.  How might we experience that?  Perhaps it is a question for next week.

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[i] Taken from The Unbearable Wholeness of Being, by Ilia Delio. 

[ii] It is noteworthy that most of the men had been abused as children by a person in authority, usually male. For many this drastically effected their view of God.