The Image of God

God, Almighty Creator, seated in the Heavenlies on Your Throne! All Powerful, Ever Present, All Knowing!
This is the image that most Christian sects share somewhere in their core beliefs. These are images that help followers grasp the enormity of God. For, as they also teach, God is Infinite, Eternal, Alpha and Omega, First and Last. These words describe how impossible it really is us to wrap our finite, human brains around any concept of the Divine.
In fact, it is so impossible that the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue, states clearly that we humans are not to even attempt to imagine God in any physical form. It seems that God was pretty serious about that.
Of course, we didn’t pay much attention to that.
Yesterday, my wife and I spent a couple of hours at the Cleveland Museum of Art. (What a great resource! But, that’s another story.) One thing that was abundantly clear was that artists throughout history have tried to imagine the image of God! Canvas and paint; carved wood, alabaster, and other stone; precious metals and gems. We saw images of God the Father looking down from the sky. There was one where the Holy Spirit was painted as a giant dove whose wings appeared to be proceeding from the mouths of Father and Son. I even saw one rendering of the Holy Spirit that looked more like an over-fed pigeon from Central Park in New York City made of silver. These were offered by various artists to render God, to usher the Divine into the non-Divine. And, no one seems to mind. There were wars fought over images and icons. “It’s ok to make these images. Just so long as we don’t “worship” them.
I considered this today in the quiet of my office, candles burning casting a gentle, living light.
What image might I use to describe God? How might the divine be understood by mere flesh and blood?
As I sat silently in God’s presence I saw an image.
I saw what many scientists think the Universe looks like. It reveals a vast network of light. Clusters of stars and nebulae connected to each other by “threads” made of the same stuff. In between there is Dark Matter and Dark Energy, (not all is light). Nebulae, dust, stars, comets, Black Holes, debris of every king, light, dark … All of it. Every creature, plant, and rock. The very particles of light and every wave of energy.
GOD.
I AM.
I AM BECOMING.
Near us.
Within us.
Yet…
Not us.
Entirely, “Other.”
This is what God ‘looks’ like!
Yet, even this is not quite right. Is it?
We tend to see God by way of negation.
God is not there.God is not present with “Them.”
God is not, cannot be, this or that.
I call bullshit on that.
God is not a negation; a non-presence. God is a lively, vital Presence! God is a resounding YES! It may be said that God penetrates into the very essence of the Universe and reaches beyond both time and space.
That, my friends, is entirely Inclusive.
Make no mistake, I think that there is definitely a difference between God and Not God; Creator and created; Divine and Non-Divine. Yet, they cannot be separated.
I have no idea how any of this works. So, please don’t ask. I’m not God; not Divine. I’m just a clump of dust that somehow contains the essence of the Divine. A spark of that live-giving energy that resides within molded clay.
May I be a clay lamp rather than a clay pot.