The European Economy and Germany’s Role in Re-Shaping it in the 21st Century

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 3 November 2011 2 Comments
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Question

Your writing has been an answer to a lifetime of doctrinal searching...and that is not hyperbole!  Raised by a traditional, but very liberal Lutheran pastor father and mother, I was eventually ordained and am recently retired.  I thank you for the three books, which I highly recommend that people read sequentially...This Hebrew Lord, Liberating the Gospels and Jesus for the Non-Religious.  These books have finally let me "land" my Christology after all these years!  My question:  Though I am very comfortable with the whole concept of the panentheistic being "in whom I live and move and have my being,” I find myself continually wanting to worship and praise and live in THANKSGIVING and GRATITUDE for all that I have and all that I experience.  Is it not strange not to direct this "thank you" to an anthropomorphic being (this shows my traditional influences)?  Sometimes I feel like I am sending out “thank you” notes with no addresses.  As we approach Thanksgiving, I am encouraged to ask you how you handle this personally, if I might.  I would so appreciate your thoughts on this.  Thank you again for your immensely helpful work.

Answer

Dear Susan,

Thank you for your gracious letter.  Your question is one that many people have.  It rises out of your own self-understanding.  You are a person.  You view life from the perspective of a person.  Inevitably you will view God in personal terms.  The problem is not that - it is that so many people literalize their own definition of God.  Gratitude needs to be expressed so do so.  More importantly, however, gratitude needs to be lived.  That is when it becomes real so say your thanks verbally and then act it out with your life of giving and caring.  God is not separate from our lives, our love and our being.

Enjoy your retirement and thank you for your life and faithful ministry.

~John Shelby Spong

 

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