How can we understand a limited God?  As I ponder this dilemma, I am aware that there are two kinds of churches: answer churches and journey churches.

We are a journey church that realizes there is more hope, wisdom and strength in the quest for God than in the worship of our own small definitions of God.

Below are two quotes that might help us understand that we should never settle for a limited definition of a limitless God:

David Duncan, novelist and naturalist argues that "God" is a word that should not be defined.  He says: "God is Unlimited.  Thought and language are limited.  God is the fathomless but beautiful Mystery who creates the Universe, and you and me; and sustains it and us every instance, and always shall.  The instant we define this fathomless Mystery, it is no longer fathomless.  To define is to limit.  The greater a person's confidence in their definition of God, the more sure I feel that their worship of "Him" has become the worship of their own definition."  (Christian Century 1/10/2006)

Marilyn Chandler McEntyre is troubled by bumper stickers that read: "The Bible said it.  I believe it.  That settles it."  Instead, she would like to see bumper stickers that say: "If you can't handle paradox, get out of the pulpit."  Or, "if you can't handle metaphor, get out of the ministry."  She says that the Bible is "arguably the most mysterious, strange, challenging, complex book in the world," and should be approached with a sense of mystery, not wooden literalism.  Reading The Bible should be considered an invitation: "'Come,' it says over and over.  Come to me and I will give you rest.  Enter it.  Sit and eat.  Dwell.  Consider.  Trust.  Look again.  The ground of all theology lies in that invitation.  First and last, it is a proposal, sent (from heaven), that summons us into a relationship more intimate than any we can know this side of heaven."  (Weavings, January/February 2006)

Whew!  Let's think about this the rest of our lives!