2/12/2009

Isabelle Theology

Dear Revd Glynn,

Where is God's house?

Love Isabelle.

Dear Isabelle,

We understand a house in two ways. Firstly it is something physical. It is a building with roof and walls, that is situated usually on a piece of land [some people's houses are boats!]. Secondly it is something in which people live. The house becomes a extension of their personalities. My daughter, for example, has a bright pink room - and she is a bright pink girl!

Now, as we've discussed before God isn't a human-shaped being. God doesn't eat, sleep, and go to the toilet like we do. God is a power we can't see. The best way we have of describing God is as 'the power of love'. So God doesn't have an address - like 1 Grace Street, Faraway, Heaven. God doesn't have a physical house to come home to, stretch out the legs, have a warm milo, and read a nice book.

However 'the power of love' does have places it calls home, places that are an extension of love's personality. Sometimes churches are experienced as a home for the power of love. Sometimes a very saintly person is thought to be a 'home' for the power of love.

The Bible talks alot about the human heart. Not the physical one that pumps blood around the body, but the imaginary one where love, kindness, and tolerance is thought to reside. If God, 'the power of love', has any house then it is the human heart that makes room for love, forgiveness, justice, and peace.

Love,
Revd Glynn