Their God

“I am the God of your ancestors” it says in scripture, “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. This hasn’t really had much direct impact on me, until recently, when I thought isn’t God also the God of my ancestors? My actual physical ancestors, yes – although getting back as far as my great-grandparents, not all were Christians. So I wrote it down – God is the God of …. But we also have spiritual ancestors. So, I included all those who have helped me grow in my faith, both those still alive and those who have already died. Then I expanded it still further: God is not just the God of my ancestors, but the God of those I worship with, those of my Community, those of my family, those who go to other churches … The list got longer. I didn’t include those I know who didn’t have faith, although, actually, isn’t God their God too, whether they acknowledge it or not?

It was just that: a list. ‘You are the God of x’, ‘You are the God of Y’… But it did get me thinking. How often do we treat other people as though God is their God? a God whom we follow and profess to love? How much difference would it make if we began to treat everyone we meet as though our God is their God? Let alone those we only meet via the media. I wonder how much difference it would make to our workplaces, our churches? To those vitally important, but often also trivial, arguments we can have? If we treated those we disagreed with as though our God was also their God – and, therefore, that their argument might just have a bit of credibility? As though their point of view might be just that – a different point of view to ours, with different priorities and theologies behind it. But that our God is also their God might just mean we treat them with respect, with an openness to find out what is lying behind their viewpoint. As well as a willingness to find out what lies behind ours, of course.

God is the God not only of your friend, but also of your enemy; not only of those you like, but also of those you dislike. How much does that change how you see people? It is so easy to demonise other people who we don’t get along with; but the truth is that our God is also their God (whether they realise it or not). How much difference would it make if we acknowledged that our God is also the God of those we see only in the media, whose lives and views are played out before us, and whom it is so easy to make judgements upon? It may well affect us far more than it affects them. How would it change lives if, every time we saw a stranger, we remembered that our God is also their God?  Especially those we might pass random judgements upon without knowing any of the circumstances.

Now, this is not to say that we accept any behaviour, because God is the God of the one who committed it; neither is it to say that we can never criticise others. It is to allow the fact that God is the God of this or that person to influence our behaviour. There may be times when that means saying ’this is unacceptable’ – because, not despite, God is the God of the one whom you are saying it to (or of, if it is not appropriate to approach them directly). The Bible makes it clear that we do wrong: read the prophets, or any of the NT. Those ‘you hypocrites’ parts of the gospel; that section in Acts, when a new believer tries to pay Peter for a spiritual gift*; many of the letters deal with incidents where the churches have messed up. But still – God is the God of those who committed them.

It brings me back to those disagreements we so often have in churches. We can get so het up, so convinced that our view is correct – and, yet, is it? It may be, but have we ever considered that those who think differently might be equally convinced, and equally prayerful about the issue. God is their God as well as ours.  It brings to mind a phrase someone told me who was going to work in another country, and had some training in handling diverse cultures. ‘It’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s just different’, she was told. It strikes me that this is a phrase that we could all do to remember. So often, it is true of those we meet, of those we walk alongside, of those who do not share our views. Yes, sometimes one view may work better than another; that’s something we’re all having to think about as the general election approaches. Which particular party, and manifesto, will be best for our country going in to the future? And, it is true, one way may give improvements that another might not. It is also true that one way may be better for the vulnerable than another. I haven’t read about the manifestos, so I am not commenting. It may also be true in our church or work contexts; maybe our view point is the best way forward. But, maybe, too, it isn’t. Or, maybe, the best way forward might be about HOW we deal with this particular issue rather than what the outcome is. My God is also your God, and is also their God.

It is not about who wins, or who is best, or who has the most power; well, so often, it is about these things. But should it be? What matters most isn’t whether we win some argument that people may well have forgotten in twenty years’ time; not that we have the power to inflict our views on other people; but that we follow a God of love, and that we shared that love in the world. As it says in 1 Corinthians 13, now we see in a mirror dimly, then we shall see face to face [from memory]. When we do see God face to face, I suspect the question won’t be ‘did you win?’  or ‘were you right?’ but ‘how much did you love?’. We will all fail; but the God who is our God as well as their God will already know the answer. Have you ever read The Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis? Go to the last letter, when the ‘patient’ dies, and read what happens. It is a fictional account, remember. But I have always felt that it might also reflect some truth as to what might happen when we find ourselves in the presence of God of Love.

*Acts 8