03-10-26

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 10, 2026
Whenever we forgive someone, the actual act of forgiving does not always communicate the hard work involved in getting to that place of forgiveness. This has raised a strange and entirely theoretical question in my own mind: Does God have a process by which God does the necessary work to get to the place where forgiveness is possible? Or is forgiveness simply a part of the divine nature? Part of the work required for most people is naming and dealing with the injury (spiritual, emotional, or physical). Though we often anthropomorphize aspects of God, and scripture surely does, I am left asking if God is hurt by the things we do? Does God feel betrayed or underappreciated? I am not qualified to answer that question unequivocally, but it sure seems as if God rises above all of that. And any human insecurities or necessary attentiveness to hurt we attribute to God is our limited capacity to fully fathom the One often described as the Holy Other. There will be plenty of folks who will disagree, and that’s fine, but I sort of need a God who isn’t struggling with the same stuff I'm struggling with.

Thank you for being God, and when I treat you as something other than the fullness of eternity and more, I pray for comfort in the knowledge that you remain God even when I perceive you as something other than God. Amen.