A God Who Looks Like Me

Saturday night I went to go see LiveWire! up in Portland. I think the author interviews are my favorite. Being an author can be quite solitary at times so it’s always fun to hear about it from another’s point of view. It’s nice to know there are others living that life and working with the same kinds of things you are.

One of the interviews I found most intriguing was actually with a musician, not an author, who said something along the lines of there is no God or that he himself doesn’t believe in God. In light of what I’ve been discussing here and reading about, I found this very interesting. We have a view in our culture of God as a judge ready to smite anyone who may cross the line. He is the God of wrath, who looks at us with disgust unless he sees we have “accepted Christ into our hearts.” Even then, this God doesn’t see us who are still sinful, but Christ who is pure. And this world? Yeah, that going to crap too, the world is only going to get worse from here so just expect it. His wrath against the nations is coming soon! Hmm… I’d have to agree with the musician on this one. I don’t believe in this god either. I don’t think this god exists and I think it is FAR past time for the religious to realize this. You think I’m kidding? I’ve heard this all in church before, it’s incredibly, bewailing sad, the view people have of God. Because it is simply not true and these beliefs are abusing people’s souls. It turns them away from who God truly is.

God doesn’t see Jesus when he/she looks at us. She sees us. She sees the beautiful people she created, each unique and precious. We are not “covered up” by Jesus, Jesus helps bring God into clarity and helps us see who she is, not the other way around. And God, or Papa as I like to call her, is not waiting up there to smite us as soon as we do something wrong. She knows better than any human who we are and has far more compassion for us than we give to ourselves. Jesus himself said he came to give us life and life abundantly. Does that sound like a rule-laden life to you? In fact, I’m having a hard time remembering a time when Jesus made a point of following the rules. I don’t think he ever did. We do not follow the rules to get into heaven and avoid “God’s wrath”. When we are in relationship with God, we are also growing into life-giving relationships with others and with the earth. The rules are gone, life enters in.

I think if this young man had the view of God as loving, grace-giving, and compassionate, I think he would have had an easier time believing that God exists. I also think if our culture had the feminine and masculine divine balanced, more people like him would be able to talk to her. More people would be comfortable approaching her if they saw something besides a bolt of lightening in her hand.

To this end, I found the book I have previously mentioned I first saw at a conference in the Columbia Gorge during a workshop on the feminine divine. It’s called, “A God Who Looks Like Me: Discovering a Woman-Affirming Spirituality” by Patricia Lynn Reilly. I’m only a few chapters into it but would already highly recommend it. You can find it here at Amazon. I found it at my local library so you might be able to find a copy at yours as well. I will be using the book as blog fodder for a while as I think it has a lot of good things to say on this topic. I am looking forward to the conversations that will ensue.