God’s Gentle Providence: Dialoging with Thomas Oord’s “The Uncontrolling Love of God”
Over the past few years, I have referred to God’s presence in our lives and in the world as “gentle providence.” God is at work in the world, seeking abundant life. But, God’s power is relational and persuasive and not unilateral and coercive. I follow the lead of the apostle Paul who proclaimed that “in all things God works for good.” (Romans 8:28) When Paul penned these words, he was well aware of life’s suffering and apparent randomness, and yet he believed that amid the ambiguities of life God had a vision for us that would bring wholeness to our lives.
As a working pastor-theologian, there are a handful of theologians I read to provide me with new insights or ways to express my own understanding of God and the world. These theologians are not only insightful, but also practical, that is, there words “preach.” Thomas Oord is one such theologian. In a variety of publications, Thomas Oord has asserted that love, and not power, is the primary characteristic of God. Yes, God is powerful and constantly at work in the world. God’s presence can make the difference between health and illness and positive and negative outcomes. A loving God works with creation and in creation, shaping and adapting to the world in loving and life-supporting ways. This is a theologically sound position; it is also pastorally sensitive especially to those of us who must respond to persons facing cancer diagnoses, the unexpected death of a spouse, or chronic illness. This vision of God helps us deal sensitively and prayerfully with questions raised following terrorist acts in Paris and Beirut.
A question I often ask my students and congregants is “Is God as moral as you are? Is God as loving as you are?” When theologians make power the primary characteristic of God, they are in danger of making God less moral than fallible and ambivalent humankind. In so doing, they attribute to God actions or omissions that we would consider morally reprehensible if performed by human beings. For example, many theologians believe that God “allows” evils such as a child’s cancer, domestic violence, or a terrorist attack to occur to make room for human freedom. Others assert that everything is part of God’s plan, and that God fully determines the great as well and small events of our lives.
What would this mean if we attributed such behavior to human beings? We prosecute humans who inflict intentional evil on children due to creating toxic environments or abusive behavior that leads to injury. We ethically condemn adults who see a child drowning and do nothing, even though they have the ability to save them. How would the survivors of the recent terrorist attacks feel if they realized that their leaders knew of impending attacks and simply let them happen as an object lesson, to build character, or because they did not want to interfere with the freedom of terrorists.
While some say that it is impious to place any limit on God – after all who are we to judge God’s behavior, they assert – Oord and I affirm that God’s kenotic love compels God to seek abundant life for all within the constraints – and cross purposes – of creatures. God acts everywhere but these acts are conditioned by God’s love. In the spirit of Plato, God acts in certain ways because these acts – and God – are good; they are not good simply because God performs them. God is love and nothing in God’s nature can diminish or separate us from the love of God. That’s simply the way God is, love that empowers others and deals creatively with the necessary randomness of our lives and the world.
Gentle providence, or uncontrolling love, is the way God works in the world, and no contemporary theologian expresses this better than Thomas Oord. Oord joins evangelical zeal, a faithful heart, and truly solid theological reflection to affirm the depth of God’s love. Oord’s passionate spirit takes this “theology of love” to everyday life. This is a God we can believe in, trust, and worship. This is also a God who inspires us to put love ahead of power and relationship ahead of coercion in our daily lives, workplaces
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