The
concept of God as somehow separate from creation and only standing outside as
some kind of all powerful being either occasionally intervening in or on the
other hand ignoring the passing events on earth does not accord with the words
ascribed to St Paul. Quite the opposite, as Paul says, "For in him we live
and move and have our being". Here
we are given a certain flavour of the proximity of God in our lives, a
proximity so close we can scarcely imagine it.
It is reminiscent of the fish that wanted to see the ocean so badly but
didn't know she was already in it. We
too are in that ocean; enveloped in that loving, pulsating consciousness where
even the hairs on your head are numbered for in God, there is nothing that is
not known.
Jesus
gave us a glimpse of our own potential to become truly the children of God and
sometimes we may see in another, the flowering of that potential, a glimpse of
that divine goodness that for a time may guide and inspire us. I recently
enjoyed the comedy film, Bruce Almighty,
featuring Jim Carey as Bruce Nolan, an egotistic and disaffected television
reporter who temporarily becomes Bruce
Almighty, while God has a holiday. In this production, God played by Morgan
Freeman, is depicted as appearing as a wise, world weary God, a God who is very
much the creator God, but a God also who knows only too well the weakness and
failings of humanity. He is a
compassionate God with a sense of humour and he is a God with a filing cabinet
who knows everything about Bruce Nolan. Importantly, Freeman helps us to
glimpse that divine goodness that exists in others.
Because
Bruce had complained about being ignored by God, that God was not doing his job
properly, God taking his holiday hands over his powers to Bruce for a while
with the rule that Bruce must observe the right of all human beings to have
"free will". Bruce Nolan
therefore becomes Bruce Almighty. Hilariously the whole episode ends in near
disaster, with thousands of people, for example, all winning the same lottery
draw and rioting, until God takes over again but in the process, Bruce learns
some major life lessons. Through his own
suffering, Bruce realises that real success cannot be achieved through selfish
egotism; you have to be there for other people if you want them to be there for
you. Secondly, that we do not inhabit a
world that is indifferent to our existence but a world that needs us to become
compassionately aware of our interdependency that we all have a role to
play.
This
God of love calls us into the fullness of the one life and knows our weakness
and our potentialities so God says to Bruce Nolan, "Bruce, you have the
divine spark, you have the gift for bringing joy and laughter to the world - I
know, I created you". Jack
Kornfield, teacher, psychologist and Buddhist tells a story of the Buddha who
shortly after achieving enlightenment was approached by a man who had noticed
that there was something special about him.
The Buddha seemed to exude a remarkable energy. The man wondered if he was a god, a wizard or
a magician. The Buddha simply replied
that he was 'awake'. In the same way,
Jesus exhorted the crowds to wake up, he said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God
