"You Can Go Home" - by Don Heatley

When my wife Pam and I first moved to Warwick we lived in a condo. Living so close to others, one positive feature of a condo is that you get to meet your neighbors relatively quickly. A few days after moving in, I was on our new patio putting together a barbeque grill. In the midst of grumbling and discovering that I had a few too many leftover parts, I suddenly had the feeling I was being watched. I looked up, and hiding in my bushes was a young boy about four years old.

He introduced himself to me and asked what I was doing. So we talked a little and he told me everything I would ever want to know about him. He said he lived in the condo across the courtyard. When I looked over there I could see his father working on his patio. Throughout our conversation, I couldn’t help but notice that the little boy never left the bushes. Finally it occurred to me. I asked him, “Are you hiding from something?”

“Yes,” he replied. He seemed hesitant to tell me more.

I had to go out to the store to get my propane tank filled and I told him he should be getting home. Still hiding behind the bushes he said, “I can’t.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“I don’t want my father to see me”

“Why not?”

He peered out around the bush and saw his father across the courtyard. “ Because I kicked him.”

This little four year old boy was afraid to go home because he had kicked his father. He mistakenly thought his punishment was going to be severe. Over the years, I got to know his father and he had nothing to fear. His father was a gentle patient man, but this little boy had a distorted view of his father and how his father would respond to him coming home.

A lot of us have a distorted view of God and that skewed image keeps us from coming home to our Father. What we think about God’s nature matters and has a direct effect on how we act. Our image of God has a direct bearing on whether we feel safe going home to that God.

This past week, Baylor University released a study they conducted on people’s view of God. Unlike most polls, rather than just ask “Do you believe in God?” or “What denomination are you?” or “Are you a liberal or conservative?” they asked people questions about how they thought of God. They sorted the responses into four categories Authoritarian, Benevolent, Critical and Distant.

What they discovered is that how a person thinks of God is more predictive of their views on social and political issues than traditional denominational labels. Those with an Authoritarian view of God were more likely to believe that their God favored the United States in world affairs and that Christian principles should have more of an effect on government policies. The followers of the Distant God were least likely to believe that any moral choice is always wrong. Meanwhile those who pictured a Critical God, fell somewhere in between.

We often say that Jesus is a window that reveals to us what God is like. So I wonder how Jesus would have responded to the Baylor poll questions. Jesus never described God in the Authoritarian image of his day. He never said God was an emperor. Although in some parables, God is portrayed as a master, it is always as a generous, fair and forgiving master.

Jesus never painted a picture of God as finger-pointing religious critic. As we will see in the coming weeks, Jesus was particularly harsh with the critical attitudes of those who deemed themselves religious. When he acted as the critic, Jesus’ target was always his own religion, not the faith traditions of other cultures. He called his followers to be critical of our own motivations and to examine our own lives, not the lives of others. Not to heap guilt on us, but to free us to live the lives God wants for us.

Finally, Jesus as far as we know, never spoke about the distant uninvolved gods of the Hellenist culture that surrounded him. Sure, he spoke of God as transcendent and powerful, but Jesus’ father was always available to us in immanent and personal ways. Jesus addressed God in intimate terms, as “Abba” the Aramaic word for “Daddy.”

So if I were forced to put Jesus’ image of the one he called father into one of those four categories, I think I would have to choose “benevolent.” He described God as father who went out to greet a wayward son or as a shepherd who invests all his time in one stray sheep or as preparing a home with many rooms for you and me. The God that Jesus knew and revealed to us, is a God to whom we can always come home.

In the Old Testament that is one of the consistent promises of what God was doing in the world. God was and is bringing everyone home. When the children of Israel were carted off into exile in Babylon, the prophet Isaiah comforted them with God’s promise to one day bring them home. In the ancient songs of the Psalms, the writer sings of a day when all nations would sing to God. All will be welcomed home. That was not a dream of everyone becoming Jewish. That would be an ethnic impossibility. Instead it was what Isaiah conveyed as the “new thing” God was doing. The new thing was and still is bringing everyone home.

In many churches, the only time they speak of someone coming home is when that person dies. God is welcoming us home but we have to die to get I the door? That is a pretty lousy deal if you ask me. I believe that the home to which God is inviting us to return in broader than that. It is limited to just an afterlife in the future, it is a reality in the present. It is the reality that Jesus described as the Kingdom of God. This is a new way of living, a new way of being in the world. This reality of God simultaneously welcomes us home and creates a new reality for others so that they can be welcomed home as well.

Isn’t that remarkable? The way, the path that Jesus calls us to follow is not just a way to make each of our lives better. It is more than self-improvement. The path of Jesus transforms us but does it in such a way that others are transformed and welcomed as well.

Believe me, we are all in need of transformation. Collectively, we are a people who are on the wrong path, making bad choices, languishing in unsatisfying marriages, drowning in debt, enslaved by addictions, burning with anger and resentment, putting on an act to impress others, crippled by self-doubt and anxiety and just plain wondering if there is any point to this whole thing called life.

When we struggle with these things, we feel far from home. We are like a people in exile, wondering why God is doing this to us. We are like a four-year-old boy, who has misbehaved and is afraid to go home because of an erroneous fear.

We can live too much of our lives in fear, sometimes a fear of God. We imagine walking through the front door of God’s house at four in the morning. It is as if God is sitting alone in the dark smoking a cigarette, ready to pounce on us, “Where have you been? Wasn’t there a phone? You’re grounded!”

That is a distorted picture of God. It may have been painted for us in our childhood by parents or religious authorities. Our misconceptions of God may be created by bad encounters with those who claim to be acting on God’s behalf.

Two thousand years ago, people had many of the same misconceptions. Thankfully, Jesus came on the scene and gave us a different picture of God. The God that Jesus knew is not out to punish us for our mistakes, or interrogate us about our past. The that invites us to belong before we believe. The God revealed to us in Jesus is just happy to have us back home.

For Further Reflection:

Which best describes your view of God? Authoritarian, Benevolent, Critical, or Distant? How has this view helped or hindered you in your spiritual journey?

What beliefs have you come to hold because you experienced a Christian community?

What are some concrete things you can do in your personal life and at Vision so that others can experience God as welcoming them home?

"You Can Go Home" - by Don Heatley
Isaiah 43
How we picture God has a huge impact on how we act
When my wife Pam and I first moved to Warwick we lived in a condo. Living so close to others, one positive feature of a condo is that you get to meet your neighbors relatively quickly. A few days after moving in, I was on our new patio putting together a barbeque grill. In the midst of grumbling and discovering that I had a few too many leftover parts, I suddenly had the feeling I was being watched. I looked up, and hiding in my bushes was a young boy about four years old. He introduced himself to me and asked what I was doing. So we talked a little and he told me everything I would ever want to know about him. He said he lived in the condo across the courtyard. When I looked over there I could see his father working on his patio. Throughout our conversation, I couldn’t help but notice that the little boy never left the bushes. Finally it occurred to me. I asked him, “Are you hiding from something?” “Yes,” he replied. He seemed hesitant to tell me more. I had to go out to the store to get my propane tank filled and I told him he should be getting home. Still hiding behind the bushes he said, “I can’t.” “Why not?” I asked. “I don’t want my father to see me” “Why not?” He peered out around the bush and saw his father across the courtyard. “ Because I kicked him.” This little four year old boy was afraid to go home because he had kicked his father. He mistakenly thought his punishment was going to be severe. Over the years, I got to know his father and he had nothing to fear. His father was a gentle patient man, but this little boy had a distorted view of his father and how his father would respond to him coming home. A lot of us have a distorted view of God and that skewed image keeps us from coming home to our Father. What we think about God’s nature matters and has a direct effect on how we act. Our image of God has a direct bearing on whether we feel safe going home to that God. This past week, Baylor University released a study they conducted on people’s view of God. Unlike most polls, rather than just ask “Do you believe in God?” or “What denomination are you?” or “Are you a liberal or conservative?” they asked people questions about how they thought of God. They sorted the responses into four categories Authoritarian, Benevolent, Critical and Distant. What they discovered is that how a person thinks of God is more predictive of their views on social and political issues than traditional denominational labels. Those with an Authoritarian view of God were more likely to believe that their God favored the United States in world affairs and that Christian principles should have more of an effect on government policies. The followers of the Distant God were least likely to believe that any moral choice is always wrong. Meanwhile those who pictured a Critical God, fell somewhere in between. We often say that Jesus is a window that reveals to us what God is like. So I wonder how Jesus would have responded to the Baylor poll questions. Jesus never described God in the Authoritarian image of his day. He never said God was an emperor. Although in some parables, God is portrayed as a master, it is always as a generous, fair and forgiving master. Jesus never painted a picture of God as finger-pointing religious critic. As we will see in the coming weeks, Jesus was particularly harsh with the critical attitudes of those who deemed themselves religious. When he acted as the critic, Jesus’ target was always his own religion, not the faith traditions of other cultures. He called his followers to be critical of our own motivations and to examine our own lives, not the lives of others. Not to heap guilt on us, but to free us to live the lives God wants for us. Finally, Jesus as far as we know, never spoke about the distant uninvolved gods of the Hellenist culture that surrounded him. Sure, he spoke of God as transcendent and powerful, but Jesus’ father was always available to us in immanent and personal ways. Jesus addressed God in intimate terms, as “Abba” the Aramaic word for “Daddy.” So if I were forced to put Jesus’ image of the one he called father into one of those four categories, I think I would have to choose “benevolent.” He described God as father who went out to greet a wayward son or as a shepherd who invests all his time in one stray sheep or as preparing a home with many rooms for you and me. The God that Jesus knew and revealed to us, is a God to whom we can always come home. In the Old Testament that is one of the consistent promises of what God was doing in the world. God was and is bringing everyone home. When the children of Israel were carted off into exile in Babylon, the prophet Isaiah comforted them with God’s promise to one day bring them home. In the ancient songs of the Psalms, the writer sings of a day when all nations would sing to God. All will be welcomed home. That was not a dream of everyone becoming Jewish. That would be an ethnic impossibility. Instead it was what Isaiah conveyed as the “new thing” God was doing. The new thing was and still is bringing everyone home. In many churches, the only time they speak of someone coming home is when that person dies. God is welcoming us home but we have to die to get I the door? That is a pretty lousy deal if you ask me. I believe that the home to which God is inviting us to return in broader than that. It is limited to just an afterlife in the future, it is a reality in the present. It is the reality that Jesus described as the Kingdom of God. This is a new way of living, a new way of being in the world. This reality of God simultaneously welcomes us home and creates a new reality for others so that they can be welcomed home as well. Isn’t that remarkable? The way, the path that Jesus calls us to follow is not just a way to make each of our lives better. It is more than self-improvement. The path of Jesus transforms us but does it in such a way that others are transformed and welcomed as well. Believe me, we are all in need of transformation. Collectively, we are a people who are on the wrong path, making bad choices, languishing in unsatisfying marriages, drowning in debt, enslaved by addictions, burning with anger and resentment, putting on an act to impress others, crippled by self-doubt and anxiety and just plain wondering if there is any point to this whole thing called life. When we struggle with these things, we feel far from home. We are like a people in exile, wondering why God is doing this to us. We are like a four-year-old boy, who has misbehaved and is afraid to go home because of an erroneous fear. We can live too much of our lives in fear, sometimes a fear of God. We imagine walking through the front door of God’s house at four in the morning. It is as if God is sitting alone in the dark smoking a cigarette, ready to pounce on us, “Where have you been? Wasn’t there a phone? You’re grounded!” That is a distorted picture of God. It may have been painted for us in our childhood by parents or religious authorities. Our misconceptions of God may be created by bad encounters with those who claim to be acting on God’s behalf. Two thousand years ago, people had many of the same misconceptions. Thankfully, Jesus came on the scene and gave us a different picture of God. The God that Jesus knew is not out to punish us for our mistakes, or interrogate us about our past. The that invites us to belong before we believe. The God revealed to us in Jesus is just happy to have us back home. For Further Reflection: Which best describes your view of God? Authoritarian, Benevolent, Critical, or Distant? How has this view helped or hindered you in your spiritual journey? What beliefs have you come to hold because you experienced a Christian community? What are some concrete things you can do in your personal life and at Vision so that others can experience God as welcoming them home?