I Don’t Like Coffee . . . God to People
Most people’s first contact with God is through nature: driving through the Rocky Mountains, the sun set by the lake, or the first snow fall on a beautiful day. This is called primary source of God. People rarely see God in the mundane/everyday drudge of life. People look, if they are evening looking at all, for connection with God through the supernatural, church and/or relationships.
People who claim to know God miss God at times because they hone in on their personal view of who/what God is, not realizing that God may be seen in an entity outside of their normal view or even comfort zone. This usually happens when we hear someone call someone like Rob Bell a heretic or pounds out a blog-rant on a show like Saving Grace.
It easy to see God in a show like Touched By An Angel: A beautiful angel here on earth that has no bad days, with no attitude and it so sweet that she looks, well, angelic. But throw out a character like Grace Hanadarko (Holly Hunter) in Saving Grace, and oh boy, you get a lot of pissed off Christians. Or to see God in, of all things, a lawyer as Eli Stone, some shout “how could they?” The funny thing I wonder is, have these people read their Bible. Especially at this time of year, around the Christmas Season (some call it Advent), church folk go straight to Luke 2 and skip over Matthew. Why, the genealogy in Matthew is boring. In the case to prove that the savior has come and his name was Jesus, Matthew uses the linage to King David trump card. The problem with this genealogy is that he mentions not only women in a male dominated society, but some people that are of questionable character. He also mentions people in the linage of Jesus who are not Jewish. In defending the case that Jesus is the Messiah to a Jewish community, do you mention that his blood line is not a pure one?
The truth is that Matthew used the genealogy of Jesus not to only say that he came to save sinners, but that he also came from sinners. Think about it! Most of the people that have come on behalf of God have been rebels, that are of questionable character–Moses the murderer, David the adulterer, and Saul (Paul) the Christian killer. Even Jackson Browne took criticism for writing and singing “The Rebel Jesus”. Maybe a song we should hear more this time of year.
So the question is, when people are looking for God in the supernatural, the good and the perfect, why is God revealed by the not-so-perfect? When we use the language of “Bridging the Gap: God to People, People to God, and People to People” can we help others by revealing ‘God to People’ by using imperfect people? In the words of Phenias and Ferb, “Why yes, yes we can.” Because God has been doing it for years.
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