{"id":1,"date":"2016-01-11T21:49:08","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T21:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/storiedtheology\/?p=1"},"modified":"2016-01-14T08:23:04","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T16:23:04","slug":"does-god-need-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/storiedtheology\/2016\/01\/11\/does-god-need-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Does God Need Us?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

That Awkward Moment<\/h3>\n

One of the most awkward moments I ever squirmed through in church was set in motion by a somewhat over-zealous plea for Vacation Bible School volunteers. I learned later that it all began with\u00a0the person who wanted to give\u00a0the announcement waving wildly in the back to get the pastor\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

And this pastor really didn\u2019t like announcements.<\/p>\n

As the VBS leader gave her impassioned plea, she ended with this: \u201cWe need you. The kids need you. God needs you.\u201d<\/p>\n

This pastor was also highly allergic to manipulative sales pitches. And he was a strong Calvinist. Enter the moment of awkwardness, a.k.a., the proverbial red pen.<\/p>\n

As the woman retreated from the stage area the pastor stepped to the mic and said something along these lines: \u201cWell, God doesn\u2019t need you, the kids might need you, and we do all need you to do whatever it is God has gifted you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does God Need Us?<\/h3>\n

The idea that God needs us sounds rather arrogant. After all, this is the God who says, \u201cIf I were hungry, I wouldn\u2019t tell you.\u201d That\u2019s not how it works. God doesn\u2019t need us, we need God: \u201cCall on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me\u201d (Psalm 50:12, 15).<\/p>\n

So if we are going to think\u00a0our way through\u00a0the power and possibilities that God has at God\u2019s disposal, we can easily conclude that God can do everything on God\u2019s own. God doesn\u2019t need us.<\/p>\n

But then there\u2019s the actual story.<\/p>\n

The story of how God has chosen to be at work in the world.<\/p>\n

The story of God choosing people. Then choosing a people.<\/p>\n

The actual story we see unfolding around us and the biblical story that inspires our own imaginations about who God is and what it looks like for God to be at work in the world shows us\u00a0that what we do matters. What we do shapes how God is and isn\u2019t, can and can\u2019t be, at work in the world.<\/p>\n

Karl Barth might say that this is all an expression of God\u2019s freedom. Roger Olson calls it God\u2019s self-limitation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the limitation that happens when God chooses a law-abiding people as the means by which\u00a0God\u2019s name will be known on the earth. It\u2019s the limitation that happens when God chooses preachers to make known the reality that redemption has been accomplished. It\u2019s the limitation that happens when God chooses to gift people by the Spirit to see to it that God\u2019s work on earth is done.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s even the limitation that happens when God chooses to rescue the world through the Human One.<\/p>\n

Jesus: the Us God Needed<\/h3>\n

When we read the Gospel stories we are often so conditioned by\u00a0knowing the outcome that the dramatic tension passes us completely by.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Gethsemane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But in the Garden of Gethsemane, the quest stood on the edge of a knife.<\/p>\n

It was a moment of intense anguish for Jesus. And it was a moment when, as Matthew tells it, Jesus had to be the faithful human or else\u00a0God\u2019s plan would completely fall apart.<\/p>\n

After one of the disciples lops off the ear of the high priest\u2019s slave Jesus says,<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?\u201d (Matt. 26:53-54, NRSV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s a possibility hanging in the air. It is the possibility of a divine rescue that would thwart the divine plan. The only way for scripture to be fulfilled is for Jesus to embrace the fate assigned to the human one, for Jesus to be faithful to the point of death, even death on the cross.<\/p>\n

Us: the Us God Still Needs<\/h3>\n

The Jesus story simultaneously shows us two things: the God who is for us, and the us that is for God.<\/p>\n

The God who is for us has given us a calling, a life, a job to do in God\u2019s name to bring God\u2019s purposes to completion.<\/p>\n

The us who is for God is a people who will faithfully walk in this way even to the point of death.<\/p>\n

The world we actually live in is the one whose script we see Jesus playing: it is a world where God has chosen to bind Godself to the faithful workings of God\u2019s people. The Father\u2019s plan needed the faithful son who would go to the cross. The ongoing plan requires a people who are worthy enough disciples that they take up their crosses and follow.<\/p>\n

The Story-Bound God<\/h3>\n

This blog is called \u201cStoried Theology: Telling the Story of the Story-Bound God.\u201d Some people don\u2019t like that \u201cstory-bound God\u201d thing very much. Too limiting. Too controlling. Too much of a box.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s my root conviction: the story that unfolds across the Old and New Testaments shows us what God is like. It\u2019s a conglomeration of storylines in which\u00a0God makes promises that have to be kept. And it is also the place where we read that God keeps those promises in surprising ways.<\/p>\n

Because God is faithful, God cannot do just anything. But because God is God, we are still constantly surprised.<\/p>\n

God has chosen to need us. It\u2019s the pinnacle of human dignity, and it is God\u2019s gift to us. God has not given up on the place of humanity as God\u2019s family and as God\u2019s image-bearers: those who show the cosmos what the true and living God is like.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the story I\u2019m in.<\/p>\n

Are you in?<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: SeeTheHolyLand.net Flickr<\/a> CC 2.0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That Awkward Moment One of the most awkward moments I ever squirmed through in church was set in motion by a somewhat over-zealous plea for Vacation Bible School volunteers. I learned later that it all began with\u00a0the person who wanted to give\u00a0the announcement waving wildly in the back to get the pastor\u2019s attention. And this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2574,"featured_media":37,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[8,6,9,7],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible","category-church-culture","tag-matthew-26","tag-narrative-theology","tag-psalm-50","tag-self-limitation-of-god"],"yoast_head":"\nDoes God Need Us?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That Awkward Moment One of the most awkward moments I ever squirmed through in church was set in motion by a somewhat over-zealous plea for Vacation Bible\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/storiedtheology\/2016\/01\/11\/does-god-need-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does God Need Us?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That Awkward Moment One of the most awkward moments I ever squirmed through in church was set in motion by a somewhat over-zealous plea for Vacation Bible\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/storiedtheology\/2016\/01\/11\/does-god-need-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Storied Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-11T21:49:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-14T16:23:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/624\/2016\/01\/3943415062_4b0a494b75_z-e1452786494930.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"422\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"276\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"J. 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