The Name of God

 

The Name of God

The name of God – the breath of God – Creation – the Kingdom, all things that are beyond human understanding, but not beyond human listening and living.  Most challenging and most frustrating is the failure of human beings in attempting to participate in God’s creation.  God gave us the ability to choose, to love and live in God’s light, but unfortunately as co-creators, human beings go down the path of creating institutions, nations, governments and even churches that are not created in the image of God, and often based on control, greed, prejudice, us and them.

The new images from the James Webb telescope are awe inspiring in further showing the extent of the Name of God, which is to say, God’s Creation.  What is the extent of creation?  Is the Creation contained in each human being also contained within God as seen in the farthest galaxies?  When God speaks through us, we are empowered to cooperate in creation.  We create through loving.  It is by loving that we are further building the kingdom of God.  When we exercise control, prejudice, persecution, and violence over others it is anti-creation.  Anti-creation is destruction of God’s kingdom.

Institutions, nation-states, and governments are human made creations, made up of present and past actions of human beings.  It is impossible for any such human made system to only embody that which is from the kingdom of God.  For sure, many of us enter into those human systems and try to bring God there, but so often in those systems the evil wins. 

Christian nationalism – what a paradox!  The name itself is a dichotomy by merging a Godly kingdom and a temporal kingdom of segregation – a kingdom of creation, peace and justice versus a kingdom of selfishness, greed, control, us and them.

We all are seeking God.  As human beings, we seek from within the human context.  The Jewish people banded together as God’s chosen people.  The disciples banded together with Jesus and were soon to be called Christians.  A nation-state adopted Christianity with Constantine. The human part of these institutions will always be a work in progress (or work in failure).  The apology of Pope Francis to the First People is a recent example of an institution recognizing the human failing of a God seeking people.

It has been shown many times that attempting to merge God’s kingdom and an earthly kingdom is not going to work, at least not for God’s forever kingdom.  Christian Nationalism is just the latest twisted attempt by humans to merge the unmergeable. 

Throughout history, as people discovered that a human kingdom was not going to be molded into God’s kingdom, they have ventured out – to the desert for early prophets, to the monasteries for St. Benedict, to voluntary poverty for St. Francis, to religious communities for many saintly founders, St. Teresa of Avilla or St. Ignatius of Loyola, to name a couple.  Most recently, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, leading to farms and houses of hospitality of the Catholic Worker, and Gustavo Gutiérrez in Liberation and basic Christian communities.

Those individuals and bands of people had both an inward seeking and knowledge of God’s kingdom, but also and outward mission for the building of God’s kingdom from where they were at.  Whether intentional or not, impossible or improbable, a truly faithful person is not able to fully abandon their fellow human beings.

How does a faithful person move through this world with one foot in the infinite and one foot in the worldly?  Maybe we can if we can observe, like the James Webb telescope, that everything falls within Creation.  To be faithful we need to strive to exist and act as person of the infinite while existing also within the limitations of the temporal and failings in front of us and within us.

Being such a person is a challenge.  It is frustrating.  It is a mystery.  Drawing a line between God within to God of stars is beyond the ability of most human minds to understand.  That line between our interior and the infinite has lots of other human beings “in the way”.  How do we handle that.  Like Jesus, and as Christians, we know that it results in crucifixion.  Nevertheless, we reach out to our sisters and brothers.  We know that as humans, to participate in Creation, we need to do it by loving.  It is the promise of resurrection and the infinite that helps us continue.

How do we strive to become co-creators in God’s kingdom and avoid supporting destructive human made institutions and movements?  These are rough waters, but each can find their way.  For me, the starting place is creation around us - the earth, the moon, sun, planets, stars, galaxies.  In the beauty, the Name of God is speaking.  We need only listen.  God is speaking within you.  Next, there are fellow travelers who are similarly tuned to Creation.  We find them in the fields, in the pews, on the streets, in peacemaker groups, basic Christian communities, peace and social justice groups.  Pray and don’t lose hope – do not be afraid – God is with you and Creation is way bigger than any human injustice and evil.

Focus on the building God’s kingdom will result in negative reactions from this world, this nation-state, governments, your church and neighbors.  There will always be tension between Godly builders and earthly builders – those building movements, opinions, power, control, riches, nations…  The negative comes when one is working to build the new within the shell of the old (as said by Peter Maurin).  It comes when one is trying to improve the ways of one’s human family.  Operating in human institutions are the most difficult – politics, governments, nations, business.  Meditate on Judas – he started by following Jesus, but the rough waters of wanting a political solution and greed overtook him.  Pray to Mary who agreed with everything her Creator asked and said, “May it be done to me according to your word.”

I hope the Judeo-Christian perspective does not offend, but that is where I start and operate from within the universe.  I fully understand and support all the other starting places that humans or non-humans in distant galaxies find themselves in.  As said by Sirach (24), “Then the Creator of all gave me Their command, and my Creator chose the spot for my tent… In the holy tent I ministered before God, and so I was established in Zion… I struck root among the glorious people, in the portion of the Lord, his heritage.”  O Creator we pray not to lose hope in the people around us where you have rooted us.  Open our hearts to be builders of your Creation amongst the weeds, thorns and rocks.  Help us to be loving witnesses and prophets.  God, we pray for the courage and peace to face evil and suffer anything that is required, since we know that Your Kingdom is infinite and beyond any persecution and crucifixion.

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