{"id":289,"date":"2015-02-10T00:01:42","date_gmt":"2015-02-10T08:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/?p=289"},"modified":"2015-02-09T11:14:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T19:14:00","slug":"god-is-not-nice-transfiguration-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithgod\/2015\/02\/god-is-not-nice-transfiguration-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"God Is Not Nice — Transfiguration Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I like to think of God as nice.<\/p>\n

Nice as in helping out with some extra wine at a wedding when the host\u2019s supply runs out. Nice as in \u201cSuffer little children . . . to come unto me.\u201d Nice as in forgiving everybody\u2019s sins, Jacob\u2019s, David\u2019s, an adulteress\u2019s, mine.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0God is not nice, not always. God is also \u2013 fierce.<\/p>\n

In Hebrew Scripture, for example, a chariot and horses of fire descend to the earth as the prophet Elijah is taken up to heaven in a powerful whirlwind. It\u2019s all the\u00a0loyal\u00a0Elisha, standing by his mentor till the end, can do to hold his ground and keep his eyes on the disappearing Elijah. You\u2019ll find that story at 2 Kings 2:1-12.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the Christian New Testament\u00a0Jesus invites three of his disciples to accompany him to a mountaintop, where they are subjected to an unearthly theophany.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 garments dazzle. Moses and Elijah appear. A cloud appears. (Christians refer to this event at the Transfiguration.)<\/p>\n

The disciples, naturally, are terrified. In his fear, the hapless Peter blubbers out an offer\u00a0to make little dwellings for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. \u00a0But right then the voice of God booms from the sky, rendering Peter\u2019s project inconsequential.<\/p>\n

What I like about the nice God is, it\u2019s very human. I can understand it. What discomfits me about the other God, the God of whirlwinds and dazzling garments and big voices echoing from the heavens is \u2013 it is beyond my ken. It is reaching into my world from an alien place that may or may not be hospitable. And that God is frightening.<\/p>\n

Like Peter, I want to tame the fierce God into niceness \u2013 build little dwellings for Jesus, Elijah and Moses. Domesticate them. Make the universe a safer place for the likes of me.<\/p>\n

\u00a9\u00a02015 Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

If you would like to know what the folks in some of the churches in your neighborhood will be reading next Sunday, you can follow the links to these lectionary readings for the last Sunday after the Epiphany.<\/em><\/p>\n

2 Kings 2:1-12<\/a>
\nPsalm 50:1-6<\/a>
\n2 Corinthians 4:3-6<\/a>
\nMark 9:2-9\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Barbara Falconer Newhall\u2019s riffs on life as an empty nest mom at\u00a0<\/em>BarbaraFalconerNewhall.com<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Her interfaith book,\u00a0<\/em>Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith, will be published this month<\/span>\u00a0by Patheos Press.\u00a0<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I like to think of God as nice. Nice as in helping out with some extra wine at a wedding when the host\u2019s supply runs out. Nice as in \u201cSuffer little children . . . to come unto me.\u201d Nice as in forgiving everybody\u2019s sins, Jacob\u2019s, David\u2019s, an adulteress\u2019s, mine. But\u00a0God is not nice, not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2144,"featured_media":335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[103,107,105,104,106,102,87,101],"class_list":["post-289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2-kings-21-12","tag-elijah","tag-god-is-fierce","tag-god-is-not-nice","tag-last-sunday-after-epiphany","tag-mark-92-9","tag-revised-common-lectionary","tag-the-transfiguration"],"yoast_head":"\nGod Is Not Nice -- Transfiguration Thoughts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I like to think of God as nice. Nice as in helping out with some extra wine at a wedding when the host\u2019s supply runs out. 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