It is astounding how much time and effort we human beings can put into keeping God leashed and under our control. Convincing ourselves we are doing the right and righteous thing, we in fact desperately try to domesticate God. I might limit God to the confines of my particular biblical interpretation. Or I can box God into my specific theological viewpoint or understanding. I might also do my best to make sure God fits into the cultural boundaries which make sense to me and which provide me with a feeling of existential comfort. I could force God to serve my personal needs to be affirmed and to be “right.” Or worst of all, I might make God the mascot for my specific political worldview.
Yet time and again God consistently breaks out of human-determine boundaries. Jesus is the primary example of that. God is not just some pleasant, grandfatherly comfort giver. God is the wild ride of our lives.
I find the following prayer by Fr. Richard Rohr challenging to my every attempt to keep God in my convenient little box: Loving God, we love how you love us. We love how you free us. We love what you have given and created to surround us. Help us to recognize, and to rejoice in, what has been given, even in the midst of what has not been given. Help us not to doubt all that you have given us, even when we feel our very real shortcomings. We thank you for the promise and sign of your love in the Eternally Risen Christ, pervading all things in the universe, unbound by any of our categories of logic and theology. We offer you ourselves back in return. We offer you our bodies, our little lives, our racing minds, and our restless hearts into the one wondrous circle of Love that is You. My life is no longer just about me; it is all about you.” (Emphasis mine.)
I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.
THE LAST RIVER MILE 
Leave a comment