Only God, its Creator, who is incomparably better and more worthy than it, can make the human Spirit content and happy. ~Louis De Blois, Spiritual Doctrine
God also spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name ‘The Lord’ I did not make myself known to them.” —Exodus 6:2~3
I work with a lot of young people, from children and teens to new adults. I have struggled to find a way to articulate what I have experienced both personally and communally—that “only God, its Creator...can make the human Spirit content and happy”—in language that resonates with them but is not heavy~handed or manipulative. Many young people in our communities, even the ones active in youth groups or church camps, do not claim to “believe in God” in the way I might. To them, this language feels false and rigid. And yet, I cannot escape the Holy Spirit~given desire to pass my faith along, to share the Good News of God in Christ, to convey to them the unfailing, all~ abiding gift of God’s love and presence that comforts, companions, convicts and calls me beyond what I could muster on my own. But the words I use seem to fall flat. You might have experienced that, too.
In Exodus, we see that Abraham, Isaac, Sarah, Leah and Jacob know God one way while Moses knows another. Perhaps then, there are still more ways and names available. And so last summer, I began to offer other names and words for the Holy to help bridge this understanding. Of all the options we tried, Love as a name for God has broken down the most barriers and assumptions, allowing us to come together as a community, to pray and praise, to lament and to wonder with greater shared understanding at the work of the Holy Spirit among and through us.
For Reflection
What if, this Lent, you replaced names for God with the name Love in your prayers and some scripture readings? For example, “Only Love, its Creator, who is incomparably better and more worthy than it, can make the human Spirit content and happy.” Could you share your experience, good or bad, with your community?
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