"What Do We Mean By God?"

Sermon preached by John C. Hall on October 14, 2007

This week is the start of another “interactive sermon exercise.” Usually, Sue and I stand up here and tell you our thoughts on various subjects. But this isn’t a one-way conversation, because all of you have own thoughts and the sermon continues in our private musings and in conversations that take place after the service ends.

For the next four sermons, the topics will be, first, “What do we mean by God?” Next week, the title will be “Why Do We Need Jesus?” and what Jesus’ ministry implies about human nature. On October 28, Sue will talk about the Holy Spirit and other spirits. And then, on Nov. 4, I’ll address the question, “Why Do We Need Each Other” or why we have spiritual communities like the church.

These are the topics that we ask the Initiates to consider in their statements of faith, but I think it’s healthy for everyone to have a crack at this subjects, and my hope is that I’ll get some of you to write something down about them. You can write up to a 1000 words on any of thetopics or questions raised by these sermons. Depending on how many responses we get, we’ll figure out a way to share them to generate the larger conversation in our church.

So let’s get started.  “God” is a strange word, because when someone says “God” it’s not at all clear what the person means or is referring to. In fact, no one who uses the word has just one concept or idea in mind at that moment. God is a kind of shorthand language that refers to a wide variety of meanings and experiences — many of which we’re only dimly conscious of.

The most common meaning of “God” — the one you’ll find in the dictionary — is that God is a supreme being, or The Supreme Being, that governs or controls the universe. But that definition has its own problems. What do we mean by a “being” in this case? If God is a “being” it’s not in the usual sense. We don’t think of God has having a body, as other beings have.  God isn’t another material creature hanging out in some part of the universe.

People think of God as a mind without a body — as an intelligence, or will, that created and operates the universe. Okay, but how do you get a mind or a will, or an intelligence without a body, or without a brain?  A mind is something that a brain does.  Without a functioning brain, or at least a computer in the case of artificial intelligence, can there be such a thing as a mind?

Some people think of God as the governing principle or principles of the universe. Some people think of God as Reality — the true Reality that lies behind the mere appearance of things. We see only shadows and reflections of reality. We don’t see the real thing.

In this view, God represents things as they really are. This is an idea that was incorporated into Christianity from the Greek philosopher Plato. And it’s an idea that has been very useful in western culture, because it gave rise to modern science. Science originated on the assumption that there is a vantage point (God’s vantage point) from where  we can see things as they really are.

But there another way of thinking about “God” that’s different from all of these.  In this approach, God isn’t a being, or a mind, or a “thing” at all. Rather, God is a process, or an event, or an experience. God is something that happens — to us.

This approach has some appeal because it’s personal and not abstract. When we talk personally about God, as opposed to talking philosophically, we say things like: “I felt God’s presence. I knew God was there. God was leading me. I prayed to God and I felt better.” In all these statements the emphasis isn’t on who or what God is exactly, but on what God does.

God is an experience — a comfort, or inspiration, or amazement, or awe, or a sense of going deeper into the heart of things, or being lifted up and helped through struggles we have.

When I talk with the Initiates about this, I introduce a fancy word for this because new words can lead us into new territory.  I talk about “numinous” experiences — experiences that are spiritually richer and elevated, and make ordinary reality shimmer with depth and beauty.

I’m personally drawn more toward this second way of using the word “God.” But one reason some people don’t like it as much is that it seems to locate God in the human mind. It makes God sound like something that’s just in your head.

My response to that is, why say “just” in your head, or just in your mind.  Maybe our individual minds are all part of a great Mind, a culture, a network, a universe of many minds active over many centuries. Isn’t our own experience, in fact, the most intimate contact with the rest of the matter and energy in the universe? Isn’t experience, in fact, all we have?

Here’s a final thought or question. However we think of God — as a being, or as experience — how can we draw a line between God and everything else that is “not God”? Can we really define a boundary between what we call “sacred” and “mundane.” In our common language, we call some things “holy” or “Godly” and other things “secular” or “worldly.”  Is that a useful distinction?

Maybe it is, at least sometimes. One could also argue, and some people do argue, that dividing the world into sacred and mundane, or sacred and profane, or holy and unholy, or clean and unclean, is where a lot of the problems in the world get started. I personally think the problems get started somewhere else but that’s the subject for next week.

But that leads to another question: If God is good, then what about evil? Is God responsible for evil? Is evil a part of God?  Are there two Gods, or two opposing forces or spirits?

These are all questions you can write about, and this sermon will be available for you to go back and re-read the questions.

Next week, I’ll take up the question of Jesus Christ. What does his life mean? And in particular, what does his life have to do with human nature?  Are humans basically good? If we have the right upbringing and education, will we all do just fine? Or is there something wrong with humans that we can’t eradicate?

This question is the one that gave me the idea for this whole series, so I hope you’ll be here next Sunday to ponder that very question.