As I shared last week, we are currently conducting a class called, “Catching Fire, Becoming Flame” on Tuesday mornings. The focus of that class is development of spirituality and building skills for participation or facilitation of a small group. I want to continue that conversation by sharing another one of Fr. Albert Haase’s insights that come from his book by the same name. There, he asserts that it is our image of God that makes one of the biggest differences in how we approach faith and spirituality. Within this column, I’ll offer a few examples, and explain why it even matters.
First of all, when we speak about our “image of God,” we are talking about our thoughts, understandings and feelings about God. Even naming “God” can be a bit of a glitch for many folks. What I mean by that, is that many people refer to “God,” and the first thing, or only thing, that pops into their head is God the Father. We need to be reminded, however, that God is always all three Persons of the Trinity: Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit- together. The beginning of our creed asserts, “We believe in ONE God…” Separating God into three separate modes of being is a heresy, called Modalism, yet it is something that we can easily slip into. Remember, all three Persons of the Trinity are always united. If we move past that aspect of the issue, we can begin to tackle the concept of what it is that we truly believe about God.
Do we believe that God is a stern judge who is always watching for the moments when we mess up, or a loving parent who loves us always, no matter what we do? Do we think of God as remote and far away, or as close as our next breath? Those very different ideas impact how we pray, and how we relate to our Creator. Our guiding principle, however, is what Jesus had to say about God. After all, as the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus would know! He tells us that we can refer to God as “our Father.” He, himself, uses a familiar term, “Abba,” that many scripture scholars would translate as “Daddy.” Regardless of the translation, Jesus consistently conveys an image of love. So much so, that the First Letter of John says, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16). What a beautiful thought!
Fr. Albert asserts that it is the image of Love that can “catapult” us towards holiness, rather than cower in the bushes, as far as we can get from a punitive judge. Once we understand God = Love, we are, hopefully, challenged toward acts of love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness. If the goal of the spiritual life is to become like Christ, which it is, then there is no more important message for any of us. Love always. More next week.