Ascribe power to God,
whose majesty is over Israel;
and whose power is in the skies.
Awesome is God in his sanctuary,
the God of Israel;
he gives power and strength to his people.
I must confess that my initial reaction to this theme was astonishment. Where is the power of God evident? In Iraq? In Lebanon? In Darfur? In New Orleans? If God is a God of chaos and destruction then God's power is indeed on awesome display around the world. But I don't think that is what next years annual conference moderator Belita Mitchell had in mind when she announced the theme of the conference.
I have a problem with the power of God. If God is powerful why is the world such a mess? I know the answers provided by traditional theology: God is powerful but he allows us the freedom to make a mess of things; it is our sin or our lack of effort in prayer or our lack of purity that keeps us from experiencing the true power of God. But God's incredible power has been on display in the past, and someday it will be on vivid display again.
But what if God is not powerful? What if there is no one up there or out there could fix everything but for some reason does not? Am I giving voice is to heretical thoughts? Maybe. But these are the thoughts I have wrestled with over the years. And I have come to a place in my spiritual journey where I no longer look for God to fix the world's problems. I do not believe in God who is all-powerful.
For me, God is the tug at my heart I feel to be more fully present in each moment. God is my mind on fire when I am engaged in discovery and thought. God is the simple satisfaction I feel when I am with friends or even just attending to Meagan's (my) bird Molly. God is presence, love, forgiveness, joy, trust, paradox, and compassion, to name but a few of the ways I experience the Divine in the midst of everyday life.
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