A Bigger God
There is a scene in the movie Prince Caspian in which Lucy, the youngest of the Pevensie siblings, comments on how Aslan appears bigger. In the book, which I had read to my sons in the weeks leading up to seeing the movie, the scene is a bit more played out:
He was there, the huge Lion, shining white in the moonlight, with his huge black shadow underneath him.... "Aslan, Aslan, dear Aslan," sobbed Lucy. "At last."As we grow older, our image of God gets bigger. The relatively simple stories about Jesus we hear as children are important, but for most of us, the image we have of God has grown and expanded since those days. There is a great richness and depth to the nature of God, and exploring that takes a lifetime.
"Welcome, child," he said.
"Aslan," said Lucy, "your'e bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."
--C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
A few years ago, I met a teenager who wasn't sure he believed in God. He was afraid to tell me this, since I was a pastor. However, I told him that a questioning faith is appropriate. Besides, I suspected that when he said he didn't think he believed in God, what he really meant was that he didn't believe in the God that existed in his mind. Maybe he had grown older, but had not yet learned how to let God grow bigger. Maybe he was struggling to let go of that small God, and open himself up to a God that is bigger.
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As we grow older, our image of God gets bigger. The relatively simple stories about Jesus we hear as children are important, but for most of us, the image we have of God has grown and expanded since those days. There is a great richness and depth to the nature of God, and exploring that takes a lifetime.
Unfortunately, though, there are many people who cling to Small God theology which states, in part, that if you don't believe in my god, you are damned.
I wish more people in my Church right now were able to see a bigger God. Or were willing to explore his richness and depth.
As it is, I live in interesting times.
I think it may have been Lesslie Newbigin who commented that you can only doubt from a perspective of faith.
My understanding of God seemed to get smaller and smaller the more fundamentalist I became in my faith. Only now, in the past couple of years, have I begun to have truly breathtaking glimpses of the glory of God again.
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