Omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, immutable.
These descriptors of the divine, rooted in classical tradition, dominate our cultural understanding of God and inform our collective and individual spiritualities and imaginations. Omniscient - all-seeing, knowing the fixed future in intricate detail, omnipresent - he is everywhere, omnipotent - all-powerful whose purposes are never frustrated. Immutable- unchanging.
The result: a God who is outside of time, an unmoved mover, who controls all that is.
In seeming contrast to this theological construction is YHWH, the relational, covenant God of scripture- who loves and at times is angered, a God who can make himself absent yet a God who again and again draws close, speaks and weeps, enters into dialogue and negotiation, a God who forgives, a God who heals, a God who suffers, and a God who has revealed himself definitively in the God-Man Jesus.
Wholly Other,
Cloaked in unapproachable light.
Holy Other,
The One from whom Seraphim veil their eyes.
Draw near,
Be the imminent and the personal.
I heard it said of old that you stand beyond time,
The unmoved mover,
Guiding all to your glory.
But now, that doesn't make sense.
Now, I crave to feel your tears,
Now, I yearn for words that echo
your grief,
your lament,
your compassion for the brokenness of this world.
Draw near,
Be the imminent and the personal.
I heard it said of old that your people's cries were heard,
I heard it said of old that your hand reached out to deliver.
I heard it said of old that you moved,
responded,
and acted in time for this world.
I heard it said of old that you healed the sick,
I heard it said of old that you blessed the broken,
I heard it said of old that you moved,
loved,
and died for this world.
Draw near,
Be the imminent and the personal.
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