The age-old question is what is God really like? One thing we can be sure of is that He?/She is not like anything we conceive him to be. The Divine being is far above anything our limited thoughts and imaginations can extend to. Still the question remains, as was asked in the Gospel of St John, ‘Show us the Father and we shall be satisfied.’ In one of the rare occasions when Christ gave a direct answer to a question asked, he said ‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father’. He is the image of the invisible God; the best photo God ever had taken of Himself. This truth lies at the core of Christianity and is like a rock of truth. In essence it means that if Christ, as a fully realized human being, is the perfect image of God then the more we embrace our humanity and become fully human and fully alive the more godlike we become. It is through our humanity that we find our path to the Divine.
A simple but profound truth is that while no human being can imagine what God is really like we are still capable of knowing this God and having a personal relationship with Him. Not only that but as products of His creation and made in his image we are also capable of manifesting a unique aspect of this God in our world. Obviously, we cannot be God, but we can offer a unique glimpse of God by simply being ourselves. So here is a question worth pondering: If I am a light filled spark of the divine what is it that is utterly unique about me that I can offer to the world. Any gifts that I have are not about me. They are a gift for others, and I have no right to downplay or hide them. The ability I may have to light up a room and create enjoyment could be a divine manifestation in a very human way. Similarly, the practice of kindness, hospitality and compassion may carry only my unique fingerprint. Even offering a listening ear can enable someone to hear whatever is going on in themselves and get back on track. For that person I am the listening ear of God.
Part of my work at present brings me into prisons where I have the privilege of giving seminars and meeting with many who are long-term prisoners. Some are there for twenty or thirty years while others will even die in prison. All have been convicted for very serious offences like murder, child abuse, fraud and causing serious bodily harm. Every inmate has a past and many face an uncertain future. While society has a justice system that metes out punishment the long-term punishment can last far beyond the prison walls. Going in I usually say to the group that I am not remotely interested in anything you may have done, but I am interested in what has happened to you on your journey through life. I remind them that all behavior is communication and so to bring awareness to their past in order not to repeat it again in the future. If there is one aspect of God that every prisoner responds to is being looked at through the eyes of love and not the eyes of judgment. At our very worst we need the reassurance that our God is more interested in the ‘why’ than the ‘what’ of our lives in order that we might find healing and wholeness.