Anchor Verses: Psalm 103:8-12; Psalm 91:1-16; Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-31
A Shepherding God
When I was in pastor school, my wife and I worked at Stratford Ecological Center, a small Community Shared Agriculture farm where we helped grow veggies, grains and livestock for the local community. One summer, we had an intern from Israel named Cheim who said he had been a shepherd back home. We had about a dozen sheep at the farm and one day, we had to do some sheep maintenance. This meant that we had to clean their hoofs with special knives and scraping tools.
Now, if you have every tried to the toenails of a baby, a cat or a dog’s toenails, you know it can be quite an ordeal. But sheep, they are pretty chill. Cheim taught us that if we are gentle with the sheep, and then quickly grab them by the legs, tip them upside down and then straddle the sheep, squeeze them with your knees, they essentially go limp and let you do what ever care you need to do. I remember thinking, “yeah right”. Much to my surprise, this was the case. A simple pet on the head, a swift grab of the legs and a brief baaa and the animal was upside down ready for hoof inspection and cleaning.
When we are told that God is our shepherd, I have never heard of God tipping us over and trimming our feet. But it could be possible. I find that the bible is full of conflicting views of God and often Christians take these views literally without considering the cultural context or even the language in which these views were imagined. In doing so, we have created God in our own image, based on our fears, our prejudices and our self worth. The following thoughts are my explorations of these traditional views and what I have discovered from theologians who have thoughtfully and critically examined these views. I challenge you at the end to make up your own mind as to how you believe in God.
Traditional Views
Angry. Wrathful. Spiteful. Vengeful. Church, those are some of the words—and some of the pictures—that many of us were handed when we first learned to talk about God. A God made in the image of Caesar. Pharaoh. A dictator. A despot. A God whose main tool is force, whose main language is threat, whose power is coercion. And if we’re honest, when that is the God we imagine, it changes everything: how we pray, how we repent, how we love, and even how we see ourselves. And much of that picture—whether we realize it or not—has been shaped by what’s called Reformed theology. Reformed theology includes “any system of belief that traces its roots back to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century. Of course, the Reformers themselves traced their doctrine to Scripture, as indicated by their credo of ‘sola scriptura,’ so Reformed theology is not a ‘new’ belief system but one that seeks to continue apostolic doctrine. Reformed theology teaches that God rules with absolute control over all creation. He has foreordained all events and is therefore never frustrated by circumstances. This does not limit the will of the creature, nor does it make God the author of sin.”
And a lot of what we believe, a lot of what we assume is “just Christianity,” is often borrowed—sometimes without us ever knowing it—from what are called Calvin’s “Five Points,” summarized with that familiar acronym: T-U-L-I-P. Total Depravity teaches that sin has touched every part of human life. Unconditional Election says God chooses some for salvation purely by grace, not by merit. Limited Atonement holds that Christ’s atoning work was specifically for the Elect. Irresistible Grace says God’s saving call effectively draws the Elect to Him. And Perseverance of the Saints assures that God will sustain the faith of the Elect through every trial, bringing them safely to salvation. Now hear me: this stream of Christian thought has shaped our culture, our churches, and our language for centuries. But it is not the only stream. And when it becomes the only voice we listen to, it can narrow our imagination of God—like looking at the ocean through a keyhole. Because the Church has always held other witnesses too: Wesley, Luther, and so many more. So let’s remember this today: the loudest voice is not always the fullest truth. The dominant tradition is not the only testimony. And the God revealed in Jesus Christ is always deeper—always wider—always better than our smallest pictures of Him.
Challenging Views
They told me when I went to pastor school, “It will ruin your faith.” And church, in a sense, it did. Not because God disappeared—but because easy answers did. For the first time, I was truly challenged by a different set of ideas about what it means to believe, what it means to trust, what it means to hope. And so I want to open up this part of our sermon with a simple, holy question: What if there is another way to look at God? What if, instead of imagining God as the One who only commands and controls, we imagined a God who persuades—who draws near—who moves with us lovingly and thoughtfully in the dance of life? John Wesley saw God’s very nature as self-giving love. “The Trinitarian life of God is best described as shared life and love. This reveals His holiness not as mere transcendence or even morality, but a relationship of mutual self-giving that defines morality for us.” And the Wesley’s knew the difference was not small; it was foundational: “the Wesley’s sensed their most basic disagreement with their opponents to lie in their respective defining models of God. For the Calvinists, the defining model was a sovereign monarch…By contrast, Wesley more commonly employed the model of a loving parent (Responsible Grace, 56).”
So let me introduce you to a conversation in the Church that some of us were never taught to have: open theism, and what’s often called open and relational theology. Open theism is a Christian perspective that says God’s knowledge of the future is not a closed script but a living reality—dynamic, responsive—making room for genuine human freedom and more than one possible outcome. In other words, the future is open rather than predetermined. Open theists affirm that God is omniscient—God knows all that can be known—but that the future is not “known” as a settled fact because it has not yet happened. God knows every possibility, every path, every “if,” every “then,” every consequence that could unfold from our choices. And in this view, our freedom is not pretend freedom; it is real freedom—what theologians call libertarian free will—the genuine ability to choose in ways that matter. And here is the part that can feel both risky and beautiful: God’s providence is not rigid but relational. God’s decisions can take our responses seriously, because God is not distant from us—God is with us, working with us, responding to us, guiding us in love.
Open and relational theology, on the other hand, widens the lens and keeps the focus where Scripture so often keeps it: on relationship. It emphasizes the relational nature of God and the openness of the future—teaching that God interacts dynamically with creation, and that our choices play a meaningful role in that relationship. This stands in contrast to the picture of God as unchanging and all-controlling in a way that leaves no room for response, no room for grief, no room for prayer that truly matters. Instead, it centers love, freedom, and genuine interaction between God and humanity. It dares to say that God is not only above us in holiness, but also with us in compassion—and that God’s love is not coercive, but faithful; not forced, but freely given.
You Decide
Romans 12 challenges us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. How we think about God colors how we think of God’s people and God’s creation. I offered these thoughts back in February when I was thinking about the cross and how we imagine God:
I read a post recently that offered these thoughts, “Any ideology that disciples you to fear, dismiss, or devalue others instead of love them is anti – Christ – no matter how many bible verses it quotes.” this was offered by a digital creator going by the handle Pastor Brandon. The response I got from this from a follower of my stuff basically defended a Christian Nationalist point of view. Speaking specifically of love, the author of the response said that while you can value love, this does not mean unconditional acceptance into every privilege. The problem with this statement is the notion of Christ is universal love. The essence of Christ is love and is central to the bible. Jesus was a brown skinned first century Palestinian Jew whose whole story arc is of an oppressed man of a historically oppressed people. Jesus and later the letters point followers to rise up above the anger and hate of their oppressors and offer love. This is not only Jesus’s story, it is the Jewish heritage he grew up, building community and looking out for others.
So I ask you today: which version of God are you following? And as we prepare to proclaim our faith through the Apostles’ Creed, I believe it matters that we understand what we are saying—and why we are saying it. May we speak these words with open eyes and honest hearts. May we think deeply, pray humbly, and hold a faith that is both tested and grown. And may God grant us a thoughtful, mature, and fully formed understanding of what it means to believe. Amen.
Benediction
Beloved, may God bless you with open hearts and minds so that together we may pay attention, discern, and follow your Shepherd’s voice, for that is the way that leads to abundant life on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In