Theme 6 - Panentheism: Experiencing the Diaphanous and Transparent God
At church yesterday, one of my priests said she studied this book while in university. No wonder I'm having a bit of a struggle with both the writing style and grasping some of the concepts presented in the book. That is why I'm enjoying blogging about what I'm reading - it gives me a place to work out what I am reading and how/if to apply that to my life.
p. 89 - The idea that God is "out there" is probably the ultimate dualism, divorcing as it does God and humanity and reducing religion to a childish state of pleasing or pleading with a God "out there."
I have lived in that dualism. I find it sad when I talk to older people who are fearful if they have done enough, been moral enough, been favored enough to "achieve" heaven. I believe in life after life and I believe in the bodily resurrection - that Christ showed us because He is the firstfruit and since it happened to Him, it will happen to us. Jesus said, "Fear not, it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." I no longer think of the "achieve" heaven and fear hell dualism. I recognize it when I see it and it saddens me. But, the kingdom is already in me, active in me, encouraging me; it is not something I will "achieve", but a "gift" the Father has given me that is already at work in me and will continue throughout eternity. It is both now and the not yet.... like so much of Christianity.
I like thinking of God in me and God in you. It bonds at a deeper level and hinders those occasional times of loneliness. It helps me try to show honor to others because it honors not only me but the God in all.
Although I still want to please God and still occasionally plead with God, my relationship seems to be changing to a deeper faith - where I trust Him completely to give me the trials that will keep me growing and the pleasures of sweet consolation since I'm his child. The more I'm able to let go of the "checklist" method of pleasing God - the easier it is to do those things that please God and gives me great pleasure in being His child. It sounds weird as I think it, but the less I try to please God, the more God pleases me. That doesn't mean I'm out sinning and living selfish; it's just a shift in thinking. In fact, when I do lenten confession, it will be sins of attitude and not sins of flesh. The less I plead with God, the more I am able to let go of expectations and trust life as it unfolds.
p. 90 - Now panentheism is not pantheism. Pantheism, which is declared heresy because it robs God of transcendence, states that "everything is God and God is everything." Panentheism, on the other hand, is altogether orthodox and very fit for orthopraxis as well, for it slips in the little Greek word en and thus means, "God is in everything and everything is in God."
Acts 17:28 "In Him we live and move and have our being.
John 14:20 "I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."
2 Corinthians 13:5 "Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?"
Galatians 2:20 "Christ lives in me"
Colossians 1:27 "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
and many more.
It is interesting to have a new word, panentheism, to refer to my belief in God in me and me in God. I remember when I was taking university Chemistry. The prof was a Christian and often had short little one-liners to remind us of God. One day he asked, "With the electron whizzing around the nucleus and neutron, why doesn't the electron go flying off?" After several guesses and guffaws, he said, "The Bible says Jesus holds all things together." (Colossians 1:17) Then took off on another topic. Little bread-crumbs pointing the way to faith.It comforts me to think that the prof had a scientific point that encourages my spiritual walk.
If Christ is holding me together at the microscopic level; then isn't He holding me together at the macroscopic level - the level of problems, fears, pains, relationships, finances, etc.?
p. 92 - Greeks focus on nouns in their literature, Jews focus on prepositions such as with, against, from, etc. The Covenant is a sign of God's with-ness. To be without covenant would be unbearable for the Jewish believer. God, then, is a preposition for the Jew. And the preposition is basically one of presence, of with-ness. The title of Jesus Emmanuel, God-with-us, is spelled out in the infancy story of Matthew's Gospel.
I think there is a lot of Biblical understanding I have missed because I have not studied Jewish life. I know what little I have studied have both enlightened my understanding of Christianity and given me a greater appreciation of the roots of the Christian religion. It also gives me a different, and hopefully more accurate, view of who my Saviour is.
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After meditating the other day, I had this thought: "The wider the road, the narrower the path." I'll try to unpack that: The more I heal or mature in Christ, the more I am able to embrace
life and others (get wider perspective on life and more acceptance of others' paths); yet it gets narrower
because I see me as more separate (less co-D). The more separate I am
(more true to self), the more I am able to embrace life and others
because I need that expansiveness of relationship with others to
maintain my sense of individuality and my sense of community. I imagine that little thought will expand and grow as I expand and grow as a person. Yet, I can see how that little nugget could lead to legalism, so will be wary.
Since I mentioned co-dependency, I read a quote in a 12-step mini-devotional. "Nobody ever becomes a person they don't like." As I shed co-D and recognize myself as an individual (who is in Christ and Christ in me), I like myself more. When I was trying to people please - because of low self esteem and not knowing who I was - I didn't like myself much. I wasn't a person I respected; but now I am becoming a person I love, respect and feel is worthy of self-care.
If Jesus was alive today, would he say, "I am the way, the truth and the life..." or would he say "I'm your Garmin to zoe life..."
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