Change is the Name of the Game

     If we pay attention, we are very aware how significant change is in our lives.  In fact, I suspect it can be fairly claimed that change is the name of the game.  Of course, we are tempted to think there are some things immune to change.  There are some things that seem unflappable in the face of the assault of change.  This resistance to change comes in obvious places, such as the materiality of things around us.  For example, the earth itself seems pretty much the same day by day.  And the material things that are part of our everyday life seem unchanging.  

    The chair on which I sit, the table, my car and the list goes on of things that seem never to change.  And yet, if I get serious, I know my chair, table and car once did not exist.  Once there was a tree that yielded the table.  And the same goes for the wood in my chair.  And clearly, the car was pounded into being from some metal and plastic.  And some day I will trade in my car and it will be flattened into scrap metal for re-use in some other form.  So even in those things seemingly impervious to change, I admit they will change---and perhaps are already changing.  

    I like to think there is something about “me” that is unchanging.  Of course, this old body is not the same as it was!  The runner has become a walker.  Resilience, defined as bounce-back, is slower than it once was.  And even those of us who want to talk about “soul” cannot be absolutely sure there is an enduring “thing” called soul.  I should quickly add that I do think I have soul.  Or better, I join some I have read who talk about ourselves as “being” souls, rather than “having” soul.  That seems closer to the truth as I understand it.  

    I realize for some these thoughts are threatening or, less so, disturbing.  I know they fiddle with the view of reality and the world as most of us learned about it when we were growing up.  And for those of us who claim some kind of faith position, we get the sense that even God may be up for grabs.  And in some ways, that is true.  

    All of us have some view of God---or we don’t.  If we don’t have a view of God, we are either atheist or have never even thought about it.  It is hard to believe someone growing up in this country would never have thought about it.  And those of us who have thought about it likely have some view of God based on how we grew up or how we have come to think about God depending on people we talk to or books we read.  

    I am reading a couple books now that I find hard and challenging.  When I say this, I have to smile, because often students in class complain that the book is hard or the material is difficult.  Of course it is.  But learning and growing can be exciting and rewarding.  Even at my stage in life, I am still trying to make sense of myself and the world in which I learn.  I know things change; I want to be engaged with how people are understanding this world.  And by implication that means how we might comprehend the God whom some of us think is responsible for the world as creator and redeemer.    

    One of the books I am reading is by Ilia Delio, a Franciscan sister who is also works at the interface of science and religion.  She is helping me learn more about evolution, quantum physics and the like.  I like to read a scientist as bright as she is who is also a sister in faith.  Obviously, she somehow makes sense of cutting edge science and a committed life in the Spirit.  I find her inspiring.  Needless to say, she believes in evolution.  But I’m not sure she would say she “believes” it, so much as she accepts evolution as the most accurate way of understanding how our world comes to be and works.    

    This does not mean God goes out the window as Creator.  But it probably will mean that we have to re-imagine how God is Creator and continues to be creative.  To be precise, what is at stake is not God, but how we understand God.  If I were in class, I might say something like: God is ok---God is still God.  What might be less ok is my way of thinking about and understanding God.  In other words, my theology might shift a little.  And I realize some of us feel a little uncomfortable in the face of this possibility.  

    Rather than drag in some quotations, let me simplify and say that Delio is helping me see that a key way God is creative is by being “inside” the evolving world.  This contrasts with how many of us have seen God to be “outside” the world and was the One who somehow brought the world into being.  In this sense we often think of God as “above” the world or may “behind” the world as the Creator.  Delio and others are helping me understand that God may well also be “in front” of us and the world.    

    We can begin to talk about God as the lure or the desire.  And for sure, Delio holds that God is love.  I like that.  As I begin to image God, God is desire---love at work---somehow in front of us---anticipating---luring us into the place and way of life most fitting a loving God.  God won’t “make” us be or do anything.  But neither will God give up, if we don’t choose the most appropriate spiritual option.  In this sense God will redeem our bad choices by continuing to lure us into good choices.   

    Delio is an optimist and so am I.  However things change, the game will be won by love!