Friday's thoughts

The sermon comes down to this;

It attempts to look at some of the ways we look at God that are helpful and some of the ways we think of God that don't represent our best thinking or our best spirituality.

Faith in God is not a requirement or a precursor of merit. Faith in God is a resource. It is a dimension of life that gives us meaning in the good times and hope in the bad times.

Sometimes we have tended to think of God in the following ways:

1. Sometimes our God is too small. Our God is too small when our personal God becomes private; when we imagine God as a force who will punish us when we are wrong and will help us find justice when others are wrong. God, is personal, but not private. When we think God is "my God" and forget that God is the God of all people, then, God is too small.

2. Sometimes our God is too big. God is too big when our awesome God becomes an abstraction. When we fail to see God present in the world; when we fail to understand that God is in search of us; when we over-think God and God becomes a concept; an idea, and not a supportive presence, then, our God is too big.

When God is just right;

When the world seems right and we can stand with awe and reverence in an attitude of wonder and joy God is an awesome God.

When our world is falling apart and nothing seems right we experience the personal interaction of a God whose supportive presence will enable us to withstand the worst of the world and life when it comes, then, we know the personal God.

God becomes a resource in life helping us to celebrate the good times and survive the hard times and we need God for both.

Have there been hard times when you needed God? Have there been moments of exaltation when you were filled with reverent wonder?

I'd love to hear from you.


Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net

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Charles