Who Is God for You?

When I started seminary the things that frightened me the most was the inclusive language policy. This policy, held by the school, stated that we would intentionally try to use neutral language for God in order to allow all people to express and experience God for themselves. Now what once frightened me the most has been transformed into one of the things that I found to be most sacred about my seminary experience. I was given space and permission to fully experience God as God revealed the Holy to me. And this was transformative.

This past week and in the upcoming week I’m taking a class that is very different from the rest of my seminary classes in that the inclusive language policy is not being emphasized, and I’m finding it to be so limiting. God is being defined by so many people in the same way that when my definition doesn’t seem to fit, which makes me doubt myself. By not being neutral we are imposing something on to others.

One of the reasons I’m so protective of this concept, this space, is realizing that it was abused before. One of my earliest memories of God is from a pockets magazine/ devotional book for children. The story was about Tommy, a little boy who was going to church with his parent. It was a white chapel with a steeple and they were walking into it while the sun was rising. But in the upper right hand corner there was what I thought was a picture of God. It was a white man with whispy brown hair, a long sleeve white shirt, and a red tie. I was sure that it was God. (I now realize it was the boy thinking about his dad, in a thought bubble. But as a result I always thought that was God – that was what God looked like.

Part of what is so hard about Christian education is that we all come with different images of God that we assume to be the truth. We also come with different levels of faith development. So how do we start having conversations about who God is while excepting that this we are each different in our development and each have a different view of God. So who is God for you? And can you accept that this is only a limited view? Are you willing to let others influence your view of God?