Early this summer I finished a book by Kathleen Norris entitled Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith. In the book she recounts her own journey of being exposed to Christianity early in life through grandparents but walking away from God in college as she embarked on a literary career. Later in life, through a great deal of pain, she came back to faith. As someone who was on the inside of the church with an eye like those on the outside she decided to reflect on some of the common terms one hears in the church. Her insight is inspiring as she looks at matters of faith. She challenges people to rethink what some familiar terms mean and gives new life to ancient words. There were many passages that I underlined and noted, but I will only share one with you.
One so often hears people say, "I just can't handle it," when they reject a biblical image of God as Father, as Mother, as Lord or Judge; God as lover, as angry or jealous, God on a cross. I find this choice of words revealing, however real the pain they reflect: if we seek a God we can "handle," that will be exactly what we get. A God we can manipulate, suspiciously like ourselves, the wideness of whose mercy we've cut down to size. (p. 214)
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