the Big Picture

Love, I love William Shatner's observation, in the December 2022 AARP Bulletin, that "the Earth is a little grain of sand in the desert that is the Universe, and we are these tiny things on the grain of sand."

Calling to my mind the Lord's promise to Abraham also imaging grains of sand on the seashore, Shatner's line in its humility is the greatest metaphor for what we are, over against our narcissistic self-importance and penchant for killing each other to prove ourselves The Greatest here on the grain of sand; and also compared to the Immensity of whoever or whatever Pantokrator might actually Be as opposed to the godly image we visualize in our likeness; and our fear of death and egoistic religious obsession with personal salvation into Eternity.

However, Shatner, Captain Kirk of Starship Enterprise, isn't quite so right with his next line, that "we're aware of our insignificance." We are not aware; indeed, most of us who post "Private Property, Keep Out" never bothered to peer into a telescope at distant objects, or to contemplate the significance of photos coming to us from Hubble and now from the new Webb telescope. And as for Pantokrator, who, what, and Wie heist ehr? IDK, except that He told Moses that He is Being itself, and to call Him אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה eh-yeh, I AM. With 7 or 8 billion of us tiny things on our little grain of sand, it takes an egocentric, anthropomorphic image of God to believe that God is obsessed with our sins, or with saving or damning each of us into an afterlife of fruit trees or flames, depending on whether we are naughty or nice, and on whether we believe, doubt, or disbelieve these or those particular religious tenets. J B Phillips again and always, "Your God Is Too Small."

But it's Sunday morning, preps to make ready and Church to go for this Fourth Sunday of Advent. Here are two good old time Sunday school Bible stories we will be reading today:

from Isaiah 7,

The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test. Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.”

And from Matthew 1:

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

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Christianity, we are a religion of stories, many of the stories, such as these two, filled with blessings and love for God's people, including us. Sadly, over the centuries, though, instead of the big picture that the stories call us to live into a godly image, the Church and its various denominations have taken beautiful stories so fervently and literally as to construct and cast concrete bunkers of faith-testing doctrine and dogma that's far from the mind of Christ and surely grieves the Holy Spirit.

Anyway, gut shabbos.