Rev Gav

Who or what is God?

Ephesians 4.25 – 5.2

I was recently asked by someone to describe who or what God is, and it is a good question. If you asked who or what Rev Gav is, then certainly you could describe me as a walking, talking, bag of flesh and blood in the form of a human being, but I am not sure it would describe me the way I want to be described! To describe me fully, I think you would also need to describe my personality, my characteristics, and the fact that I love cheese. In the same way, what God is and what God is like are inseparably entwined.

God is spirit and this means God is not physical or part of the physical creation that makes up our universe. One might think of God, in our terms, as occupying a different dimension or order of being. This place, the dwelling place of God, writers have called heaven. Being not of the created order, God is both infinite and omnipresent. To this end, we can say that ‘God is’ and it is interesting that God, as recorded in the Bible states that, “I am.”

Another interesting facet of God is that God is both one and community, something that is a paradox in the created order but exists in the spiritual realm, and talking of the spiritual realm, we tend to think of it being occupied by multiple spirits, but I think it is also helpful to think that although God occupies earth and heaven, there is nowhere that God is not for God sustains everything and is present everywhere.

Finally, as flawed as we can describe it, God is consciousness and all meaning and purpose is found in and through God. God is not ambivalent, apathetic, or indifferent, for God is driving, propelling, creating, sustaining, and drawing forth all creation. Creation, if you will, is the explosion of thought, and the very expression of God. When God (metaphorically) thinks or speaks, creation happens. And this leads us nicely to the question of what God is like, because God is love.

It is worth spending a moment thinking about what words you might use to describe love: selfless, giving, just, forgiving, compassionate, empathetic, embracing, welcoming, accepting? These are just a few adjectives that spring to mind, for when we describe love, we describe God. Love is always outward-looking and always looking to the interests of others. Love is not a wishy-washy, ineffective, fluffy feeling, but the most powerful, enveloping, and transformative dynamic in the universe and beyond — and this is who God is.

It follows that if God is love, and love by its very nature needs to be expressed, then the incarnation of God as a human would be a natural and expected extension of that love. The God of love that bore creation would seek to fill that creation and live that creation — to literally embody creation — and this is Christ. God became incarnate to extend that outward-looking love to humanity and all creation. We know him as Jesus, and if you want to know what God is like then look to Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ embodied the love of God. Think of every word that describes love and it also describes Christ: selfless, giving, just, forgiving, compassionate, empathetic, embracing, welcoming, and accepting — the list goes on. If our human brains find it difficult to conceive of a spiritual, heavenly love, then we have a physical, earthly love that we are able to grasp, and once grasped we are called to embody that love. Paul, in his letter to the church in the town of Ephesus, reminds and emplores them that if they struggle to live and have their being, then simply to be imitators of Christ.

I do a reasonable Kermit the Frog impression and Scooby Doo is my party piece. I have also been known, from time-to-time, to do a circa. 1980’s dalek from the hit TV show Dr. Who (although you might need to buy me that second glass of wine for that one). To imitate something takes time, study, and practice. In the same way, we are to be imitators of Christ. In fact, a better rendering of the word ‘disciple’ is ‘apprentice’. An apprentice seeks to become like the mentor and the apprentice does this by copying the mentor — speaking like them, thinking like them, and behaving or doing like them. We are apprentices of Jesus and over time, with study and practice, we become more Christlike.

We live in a world that desperately needs loving. Our environment needs loving and people need loving. When we read or watch the news, the problems humanity faces can feel overwhelming, but God has not called you to solve humanity’s brokenness — God is on the case. You are called to be imitators of Christ and people who embody and extend God’s love right where you are, in the bit of space you occupy, and to the scattering of people you encounter. Your love on a small scale is vitally important. Every daily act of kindness, selflessness, compassion, welcome, empathy, or support counts. Every time you use your gifts and talents to bless others matters.

Today, whoever you are and wherever you are, may God help you to love. May God’s all-consuming, passionate love flow in you and through you. May you shine like stars in a dark world, be agents for transformation, and be the blessing this church, community, nation, and world need you to be.

Amen.