Maybe it’s small. Maybe it’s large. Or somewhere in-between. Maybe you filled it as a child and haven’t revisited it since. Or perhaps you emptied it recently and are trying to refill it now.
We all have a tendency to categorize new knowledge and experiences so that they sit in nice, tidy boxes in our minds. Whether we care to admit it or not, we’ve done that with God.
We’ve place God in boxes in our minds.
But the best news ever is that God always and inevitably breaks open our boxes. God cannot be contained in our nice neat categories in our minds or in our world.
That’s one of the problems with Christianity today. So many churches and faith communities are just offering new versions of the God box. They tell you what you should believe and they condemn those who believe anything else.
Here at the Holy Craft, we are seeking to begin that process of box breaking. When God gets let out of the box — one way or another — it is amazing the types of spiritual depth that is available to us.
Two things about our God boxes:
- Certainty makes the box difficult to open.
According to the dictionary, certainty is the “firm conviction that something is the case,” and “perfect knowledge that has total security from error.” So many Christians uphold certainty about their religious beliefs. Do you think there is any such thing as perfect knowledge of God? Why do people pretend like there is?
Many people speak with such certainty about various aspects of the Christian life. They speak with certainty about who God is. It is these people who defend God as the old, white guy in the sky. To many whose thoughts are entrapped by their God box, they could never fathom God as a woman. They could never fathom Jesus as the incarnation of Lady Wisdom (more on this later). Certainty prevents people from encountering God in new ways. Certainty closes our boxes and our minds.
Maybe you’ve encountered someone who is certain about what the Bible says. Maybe they’ve used one of 7 clobber passages to tell you that you are an abomination (hint: you are not; you are a beautiful child of God). Maybe they are certain that the Bible somehow affirms American nationalism. Certainty prevents people from finding meaning and life in the Bible. Certainty closes our boxes and our minds.
Frederich Buechner once said, “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.” Our doubts provide the openness to mystery we need to maintain an open mind and heart to the world, our neighbors, and lessons within them. Certainty makes it impossible to learn and grow in our world because those who are certain already have perfect knowledge. Right?
2. God doesn’t belong in a box because God is incomprehensible.
God is absolutely mysterious. You know the old proverb about meeting someone who claims to be the Buddha on the road? Why do they suggest to kill the Buddha? It’s because anyone who claims to know everything is lying (not permission to resort to violence!).
Many people put God in a box through their language they use for God. Most of the time God is a man and often times a less-than loving father. Relying on certainty, some will swear by God being a man and a father. But, Richard Rohr famously says, “All metaphors for God walk with a limp.” Every word we use to talk about God is a word that is incomplete and missing the mark.
Buddhists have a great proverb in which a person is pointing at the moon. The proverb explains that humans have a tendency to miss the moon — the thing that is being described — for the finger. Or we mistake the moon for the finger. In both cases, this is idolatry — worshipping something that is not worth our worship.
The words we use for God are like a finger pointing to the moon. We cannot get caught up looking at the finger and missing the moon. This is how American Christianity has such a strong image of God as a straight, white, old guy in the sky. We’ve missed the moon. We’ve let our certainty about God being a father keep God in our little boxes.
To avoid missing the moon, we can use multiple metaphors for God. God may be like a father to some, but God may also be like a mother. God may be like a breath. God may also be like a stream of water. By using multiple metaphors for God, we can embrace the incomprehensible mystery of God that frees us from the grips of the God box.
Breaking open our God boxes is absolutely essential to our spiritual lives. It humbles us. Theology should be a humbling exercise in which we realize that we will never have it all figured out. It opens us. When we break open our boxes for God, we are opened to new experiences and ways of seeing God in the world, in ways we could never imagine. It connects us. If we have a more broad, inclusive vision of God, we will see God in more people and places. This will give us the opportunity to connect with God in more diverse ways and people.
Our world needs people with a deep spirituality defined by humility, openness, and connection. So how is your God box breaking open?