The Avatar

Today’s Reading: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. – Genesis 1:1

Remember the blockbuster film called The Avatar?

No, I am not talking about the disaster of a film The LastAirbender (I’m still mad at you M. Night!). I’m talking about the one with the tall and lanky blue people who flew around on winged dragon birds after plugging into them with their hair.

Yes, that movie.

One of the themes that struck me with that film was this notion that this god force was in nature. It was in the roots of the trees and the trees were all connected so that there was this vast network of god energy permeating throughout nature.  This was a cool device to talk about the importance of protecting our planet and how if we keep our home a happy one it will take care of us.

Of course that’s not what this verse says. It says that in the beginning God created…

That means that for as beautiful as that idea is it minimizes God. He created all things. He is the author of all creation. How can he be limited to a tree or a forest? He created all things! Does this mean that we shouldn’t respect nature and treat the earth with respect? Of course not (we’ll deal with that later). But this understanding has done something powerful for me. It is an amazing reminder of just how powerful God is. He exists before time and space, before nature, before the sun and the moon. He IS and therefore we had the possibility of being.

Nature isn’t God, God created nature.

The idea that God would come down into His creation so that we could be saved, so that we could choose to have a direct relationship to Him, was all the more powerful when I realized this truth. He created this for us and He chose to come into it after we messed it up so that He could be with us forever, just as He always planned.

Do you see God in nature? What is it that you are really seeing? 

Why I Believe in God

We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks!
         For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near. Psalm 75:1

Today’s Reading; Psalms 74-76; Romans 9:16-33

Some of you who have been reading along might wonder why I believe in God. What proof is there? How can I believe in something that cannot be touched, heard or seen?

Well I can tell you why.

Several years ago when I was in the depths of my doubts I looked around and asked myself the same question. There is so much misery in the world. There is so much pain and tragedy. No matter how hard we try it seems as if humanity is more inclined to destroy than preserve. Look at all of the violence and the pollution. Look at what we have done to the planet. Look at what we do to each other and ourselves.

There must not be a God right? If there were we wouldn’t be surrounded by all of this sadness and destruction.

When I presented myself with these same arguments I couldn’t help but to see the other side. When I looked into the eyes of children I could see a pure spark of goodness and wonder. When I looked into the eyes of teenagers and adults I saw the glimmers of faith and hope behind the lenses of pain. When I walked by homeless people in Downtown Los Angeles I saw love light up their eyes when we spoke.

When I meditated at the beach I saw every possible color painted across a miraculous horizon. I felt the warmth of a nurturing sun and the softness of countless grains of sand. When I walked to work I saw clusters of palm trees growing at angles so as to allow space for each of them to breathe. I saw streets with canopies of trees that met in the middle without touching; as if by some unspoken agreement.

I have never failed to see order in the chaos, truth in the lies, and hope in the pain of this world. No matter how dark it gets there is always a glimmer of faith within everyone that gives us the courage to get up out of bed and go out into the world.

I never stopped seeing love, and I never stopped loving. For me, love is the beginning of connecting to God. And no matter how bad things seemed or how terrible things got, love never disappeared. It was everywhere and in everything.

I’m not sure what the wondrous works were that the Psalmist spoke of. But I know that the wondrous works that I see are founded in love.

God is love.