The classical hymn \u201cThere\u2019s a Wideness in God\u2019s Mercy\u201d always makes me joke in the vestry before service, \u201cThere\u2019s a Wildness in God\u2019s Mercy\u201d then during a dull moment in church I thought, \u201cTruest words are spoken in jest. There is actually a wildness in God\u2019s mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is \u2018wildness\u2019, well first thing I think of is unpredictability. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s coming next with God. In fact, whenever I think I do know what\u2019s coming next I can be pretty sure that it\u2019s NOT God at that point because my own ideas of what should come next and what is coming next are never big enough. God\u2019s mercy is wilder than that. So there\u2019s this sort of wild unpredictability.Things are open ended. The universe is open ended. Reality is rubbery. There\u2019s more flex in it than I thought. Just when I thought he was coming in grandeur he comes as a peasant child on a wintry night. Just when I thought he was my friend and buddy he appears as the Lord of Glory and Judge of all.<\/p>\n
The second idea of the \u2018wildness of God\u2019s mercy\u2019 is that wildness is strange. God\u2019s mercy takes us where the wild things are. We encounter God and it was not what we thought. It\u2019s not only wild. It\u2019s weird. It\u2019s wacky. It\u2019s wonderful. If you can\u2019t see the strange ness of God you\u2019re looking at religion. This wild strangeness is also frightening. Going to God is going to a place that is disturbing and unsettling. Aslan is not a tame lion.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a wildness in God\u2019s mercy like a wild child. There is passion. There is a wild carefree joie de vivre. There is the wildness of joy and abandonment and creativity. God\u2019s mercy is playful. It is mischievous. It is subversive and wild and free.<\/p>\n
Finally, if there\u2019s a wildness in God\u2019s mercy there is also a wilderness in God\u2019s mercy. See how the holy men always go out into the wilderness to pray? That\u2019s where they find God: out in the wilderness with the wild beasts. Where the wild things are. There in the wilderness God\u2019s voice is most wildly heard. There in the cave not in the earthquake wind and fire, but in the still, small voice\u2013 a voice more wild and unexpected and terrifying in its demands than anything safe or predictable or tame.<\/p>\n
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The classical hymn \u201cThere\u2019s a Wideness in God\u2019s Mercy\u201d always makes me joke in the vestry before service, \u201cThere\u2019s a Wildness in God\u2019s Mercy\u201d then during a dull moment in church I thought, \u201cTruest words are spoken in jest. There is actually a wildness in God\u2019s mercy.\u201d What is \u2018wildness\u2019, well first thing I think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n