God and Gandalf

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I'm sure I'm not the first to talk about this and I know I won't be the last, but indulge me a little if you will. Sunday night’s sermon sparked interesting conversations about how we see God. There seems to be several camps in our faith that can’t seem to reconcile themselves to one another.

The first can be best summed up in a T-shirt. ‘Jesus is my Homeboy.’ Meaning Jesus and God are more like good buddies, they show up when I need them to, they do what I ask, take care of me, the have my back if I’m in trouble etc. It’s a friendship really. I have respect for Him, but I do what I want. I’m not intimidated at all by my homeboy. It begins with teaching children

The second is God and Jesus as these inaccessible beings who can’t be touched, who we can’t be close to. “The wrath of God”, “the fear of God”, “fall on your face” in fear of God; these are all phrases that the church bandies about. I heard preached in many a good southern church growing up, ‘the fear of God.’ Some parents even say it just before the ‘whuppin’ starts, sometimes. “I’m gonna put the fear of God in you, girl/boy!” So God is this thing who is gonna take me out if I step out of line; this being of all power that I must and will fear.

This has caused much confusion for both me and the DH and was the subject of our discussion last night. Even though both of us, with our adult minds, know how we ‘should’ see God, when it really comes down to it, our subconscious acts out of one of these two mind sets. At least mine does, (I can’t speak for the DH.) As we were talking about all of this and where to find Grace in either of these two places, I thought of a movie. Yes, I have ADD, but that’s not the point.

There is a scene in the LoTR film – The Fellowship of the Ring, where Gandalf is in Bilbo’s house, trying to convince him, in a very kind way, that perhaps it’s best to leave the ring behind. The ring is obviously killing him. Bilbo says it himself that he ‘feels thin, stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread,’ and yet, he can’t imagine life without it, because it is also keeping him alive, for it’s own purposes. The ring has helped him out of a jam or two; it is his ace in the hole, really. Bilbo gets angry about having to leave the ring and turns on his friend. Then we get a small glimpse of who Gandalf truly is. His power expands so much that the house he stands in can’t hold it, groaning with the sheer magnitude of it.

Gandalf says ‘Do not take me for some conjurer of cheap tricks. I’m not trying to rob you, I’m trying to help you.’ As he says the last phrase, his kind face and sad blue eyes come back into focus and instead of running from him, Bilbo runs to his arms.

For me, that is a good summation of God. He knows me, he loves me, but I have no concept of just how overwhelming and unfathomable he is, until I need to know. However, this glimpse of the glory of who he is, though it overwhelms me and causes me to be afraid at the sheer enormity of it, sends me running to His arms, not away from Him. I think of that Hubble photo called Pillars of Creation and am awed that the creator of that cares about me. Pretty Cool.