On the Nature of God

*The 2nd in a Series of Conversations between my summer intern Christian Parks and I.

J: Christian, I am glad to be returning to this space of formal theological conversation with you. Lately, we have consistently talked about who or what God is. The nature of God has proven to be a topic we return to over and over again. I thought that we could spend some time there tonight.

C: So, what do you think God is?

J: I first must say…I think God is going to be beyond whatever thoughts we can construct. God is always the God beyond God. With our finitude affirmed, I think God is in a constant state of being and becoming. God’s being is love. God’s becoming is love. God’s love expands with our expansion. The love of God is constantly growing. God is the neverending story of love. What do you think Christian?

C: I love “God is in a constant state of becoming.” God is breath; a matter in which we can never fully understand yet we can process it, we can experience it. God is an active process that is ebbing and flowing in and out of creation. This process is one full of nothing but authentic, self-less love. God is power, a force encompassed in ability. I think most importantly though God is a means of becoming. If God is constantly becoming, what does this mean for us?

J: One of the core components of the way that I construct queer theology is a strong dose of eschatology. We have to recognize that we are in a state of becoming before we can most fully learn to live into that becoming. The journey toward queerness is a process of holiness or of becoming more and more like God. We do evil to our self and others when we go against that process. We were created to be a unique brand of love and when we try to become anything else we become a unique brand of hate. There is nothing queer about just breathing…there is something very queer about truly living.

C: God in process offers us a journey. The journey is one towards fullness – fullness in authenticity. God already in a state of becoming, we are invited in on a journey in progress. God has and will always continue to be love and yet we have to be caught up on how, when, and why. God proves to us that we are each love in our own fullness, still though we must be constantly assured of this fact. Our assurance comes by authenticity, by way of becoming a whole and connected self just like God.

J: Thanks be to God.

Amen.