last sunday i filled in as substitute organist at a church in our town. the sermon was delivered by a representative of the gideons organization. this is a group that raises money to give away bibles, especially copies of the new testament and psalms in a little pocket-sized edition. they work all over the world. when i was a child they gave these little books to all the fifth graders in school every year. now they are prevented by court order from doing so in public schools because of the freedom of religion clause of the constitution, but in many countries they continue to give bibles to school children.
the speaker had some interesting stories of people who were converted to christianity by bibles given out by the gideons. of course, these conversions were attributed to god having placed the bible in the right person's hands at just the right time. as he spoke, i thought about how easy it is to make a coincidence into a miraculous occurrence. i can't believe that God is busy meddling in people's lives by causing a series of events to lead to a predetermined result. belief in such miracles gives us hope that the unlikely can happen, and that such "miracles" are the work of god. perhaps such faith is helpful when we are at a low point in our lives and are ready to give up. if i were to come down with an incurable, life-threatening disease, i would want to believe that i might be miraculously cured, and if i were, i would be thankful for being free of the disease. i don't think i would believe that God caused me to be healed but rather that i was one of the lucky ones that was cured by some unexplained cause. i wouldn't think that god singled me out for a cure while letting others in the same circumstances suffer and die. what sort of god would do that?
it is that sort of god that it is dangerous to worship. blind faith in a god that chooses some to bless and some to curse without any reason is ludicrous. life just happens. sometimes we are the ones who are lucky, sometimes we are not. we can choose paths that lead to happier, more fulfilled lives, and we can work to make the best of the situation we find ourselves in. often, though, we find that in spite of our best efforts bad things happen to us. those bad things are not the doing of a puppet-master god, just as the good things are not God's doing. the miracle is the unfolding of life around us, the beauty of the world in which we live, the loved ones who support us, the gift of reasonable minds. i can worship a God who sets such possibilities in motion, but i can't worship a god who orders every detail of the life i live and who constantly interferes to make "god's will" happen.
may we search for the answers to life's questions with honesty. may we not be afraid to refuse to accept the pat solutions that require little thought. if we believe in a god, may it be a God that is larger than the god of pettiness. shalom.
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