Todays Disturbing Complacency thought has been digging away at me all day.

What if it was not Jesus’ crucifixion that saves us?
What is it was the way he lived his life that saves us?
Is it possible that Jesus would want us to focus on his lifestyle because that is what gives meaning to his crucifixion?

My evangelical upbringing screams ‘no’ to this thought.
But as I reflected on the strength of my reaction and as well as considering the motivation behind my reaction I also pondered those ‘what if’s’ of above.

I have often thought that we reduce God to something manageable so that our minds can cope. Could it also be possible that we have reduced the life of Jesus to the crucifixion? Further still, is it possible that we have reduced the crucifixion to an act of ‘saving us’ when in reality there is so much more to that seemingly single act?

I am not saying that Jesus’ death did not save us, but I am wondering if that is the whole story. Are we missing a more complete picture and therefore a more complete image of who God is, and a so missing out on a more complete relationship with God?

Focusing back on Spirit today, we ask questions around how we refer to God. Do we limit God by only referring to God as ‘father’. When we use that term, we know as we use it that it is an incomplete description of God as God is totally and indescribably different from humankind.

And yet … so many people feel uncomfortable referring to God as ‘mother’, another incomplete description of God.

Any way we describe God is incomplete, but one way of acquiring a more complete image of God is to choose to take an inclusive approach to the descriptions of God that we find in the Bible.

God is not simply father, or mother, or creator, or wind, or fire, or almighty, or alpha, or ancient of days, or healer, or banner, or judge, or shepherd … or any name we use.

If we start to think of God as ALL of these, we are still a million miles away from the true reality of who God is, but we are much closer than we are if we restrict ourselves.

Thursday’s focus in ‘Disturbing‘ each week is ‘nation’. Bodenheim asks in her writing, ‘do we try to maintain an image of perfection?’

I try to be the best I can, but is that giving an impression of perfection? I’m not sure that it is, but I can see how it can easily become a strive for perfection, which is a useless strive as only God can do perfection!

While travelling around London today for a Hope 08 meeting and then meeting up with Simon from Swindon YFC I was struck by the ‘perfection’ that London wishes to portray; it’s a perfection that border and melts into arrogance.

Across the nation, have our churches fallen into this trap of perfection? Ian blogged yesterday on the business model of church, where church becomes motivated by performance, failure is wrong and little space is made for the weak, the poor and the marginalised.

Advent is a time to remind ourselves that we are merely creators, maybe even co-creators, but we are not THE creator, we cannot achieve perfection.

Perfection is totally, uniquely and exclusively within the domain of God.

Today’s reading from Disturbing Complacency looked at the ‘ruach‘ of God and it’s incomplete translation to ‘spirit’ which we have used commonly.
Rather than spirit, ruach refers more to tempest, a real tangible ‘living something’. Spirit lacks energy compared to the depth or ruach.

Today I needed to take Joe to the doctor. The wind was amazing, a storm was brewing, it was hard to walk, the storm took your breath away and it gave me a new sense of who God is.