What or Who is God?

In our first sermon of Lent, Pastor Charles and I introduced the concept of God as Beingness, or Is-ness. Let me explore this concept in just a little more depth, with the understanding that entire libraries could be filled with books on the nature of God.

When Moses encounters God in the wilderness, God takes the form of fire that appears within a bush yet does not burn the bush (Exodus 3). God gives his name as YHWH, which is variously translated as: I AM WHAT I AM or, I will be what I will be.

Everything that exists, all creatures and things, all sub-atomic particles, waves – everything that exists – exists as a specific thing. One can say it is this or it is not that about any particular thing.

But God is different. God is not a thing, not a wave, not a particle. God simply is. God has intentionality. God moves and God acts. God acts with feeling, but is not motivated by emotion. Countless people throughout the ages from many different cultures testify to their experience of a “higher power” like the one I have described.

Pastor Vivian, Executive Pastor