"IN GOD'S PRESENCE"

Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki's book titled In God's Presence clarified my thinking about the nature of God in a direction that I was already headed. As I read, I found myself saying, "Oh yes! That's right." With respect to the subtitle, "Theological reflections on prayer", I entered new territory in a way that surprised me, and pleased me, and answered a good many of my questions about prayer, such as, "Why do we pray?" and "What happens when we pray?" Of course, the nature of God and prayer would inevitably reflect one on the other.

That brings us to the basic supposition of a relational theology of prayer: God works with the world as it is in order to bring it to where it can be. Prayer opens the world to its own transformation.

The book resonated powerfully. Suchocki's analogies work quite well for me as descriptives of exactly how God is present to us.

But if God's power is presence, think of the difference this makes to the knowing of God. God's presence, like water, pervades the nooks and crannies of existence--what is the boundary of water? the boundary of God? A stone marks the edge of the water and its own existence; What marks the edge between our own and God's existence? Where does our existence begin and end?--for surely we neither start nor stop with our skin. Would it be so strange to consider that the omnipresent God pervades us without at all displacing us?...Why can't the higher life form that is God co-occupy us, flowing through and around and in us, even while remaining God, and while we remain ourselves?

Why indeed? We needn't call God to us, nor need we go to God, because God is always present. Sushocki's words make so much sense. The ideas she expresses so well are not entirely new to me, but what had been somewhat fuzzy in my thinking about God's presence became clear after reading Suchocki's words.

But the image of God I am proposing is of a God pervasively present, like water, to every nook and cranny of the universe, continuously wooing the universe toward continuous transformation toward is greater good.... I am proposing an image of a God who interacts with the universe not partially, but totally. Such a God creatively gives to and receives from all forms of existence.

Not only does God presence affect us, but we affect the present God. Interaction is a two-way street. And God's interaction is not just with humans, but with the entire universe. God woos humans and the entire universe, and in turn, God is affected by us and the whole universe.

So then: God gives to the world and receives from the world; the world receives from God and gives to God. God gives creative and suggestive energy to the world, and the world gives the results of what it has done with this energy back to God. Prayer in such a world is an openness to God's own creative energy, and to the good that God intends for us. It is also an offering back to God, giving God the offering of ourselves.

I've thought of our images of God having the attributes of omnipotence, immutability, omniscience and how the images do not square with the God of the Hebrew Testament, the God who has emotions, the God who has changes of mind. How can God be immutable if, at one point in time, God came down to become one of us to live amongst us?

On omnipotence:

What would it mean for our understanding of omnipotence if in fact God is interdependent with the world? Omnipotence means literally all power. But given the reality of the world with its many forms of existence, omnipotence may be a self-contradictory term, even when applied to God. To exist at all is to have some mode of power, for instance the power for being. Even the most minute form of existence pulsates with its being radiating an energy that affects others.

On intercessory prayer:

Were the God-world relation one where there were absolutely no limitations on God, then the universe would be a place where intercessory prayer would be absolutely unnecessary. But in a God-world relation of interdependence, where the world's power must be taken in to account, where God's power is exercised in the form of possibilities that the world has the power to reject, then intercessory prayer is of the utmost importance. It's not just that we need to pray--it's that God needs us to do the praying. Our prayers actually make a difference to what God can do.

Sushocki's book came to me highly recommended by more than one person. In turn, I recommend the work highly. The author writes on process theology, which several friends suggested that I explore. I'm half-way through one of her theology books. Yes, I read more than one book at a time.

Note: Post edited to rearrange quotes and include omissions.