An Altar for an Unknown God

Most years during Lent, I choose a method or book to focus my prayer life in order to more deeply enter into this most holy of seasons of the Christian year. This year, I’ve been reading Christine Valters Paintner’s book, A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding our True Hungers in Lent (Broadleaf Books, Minneapolis, 2024). As I prepare to enter Holy Week, I’m especially taken with her reflection for week six — to “fast from certainty and embrace mystery and waiting” (p. 197). There is such wisdom here.

We are in a time of chaos and disruption in our country. Prejudice and hatred are ripe. Violent white supremacy groups have newfound power. Illegal acts at the highest levels of government, corruption, gross injustices, and safety nets for humans, animals, and our earth are being ripped away. The mindset of “us” vs. “them” has grown exponentially in frightening ways. It seems that all the progressive policies that have been painstakingly built are coming tumbling down. And even those were rife with serious inadequacies at being able to dismantle institutional racism, to build true bridges across difference, and to protect our earth.

Lord, have mercy.

In the midst of it all is a resurgence of Christian nationalism. With all the uproar, it’s no wonder that a more conservative, fundamentalist Christianity based on God and Country is emerging. We humans want answers. We humans need stability in order to function well. Black and white thinking is deeply soothing. It gives us a clear idea of what to do when life is unclear, who is “in” and who is “out” when we can’t identify the enemy and it gives us a greater sense of control when there are no guardrails.

Lord, have mercy.

Now, there is much I can learn from brothers and sisters of all Christian denominations and from other religions. No one has a corner on the market of spirituality. No one knows THE ONE AND ONLY TRUTH. Even if we think we do. I certainly have clear, definite beliefs that I KNOW are the truth … and would stake my life on. Others have different beliefs. Will I allow myself to be open to them, learn from them, sort through these other values and truths, to grow spiritually? Can my understanding of God be allowed to stretch beyond my parameters to something much bigger than what I currently understand?

From Christian Nationalists, I can appreciate a sincere love of country. There is much to love about the United States, even with all of its faults and failings. When my husband and I lived overseas for an extended period of time, I realized how much I loved the U.S., even as I was loving where I was. The U.S. was and is home for me. A place to always return to. A country with much possibility, much hope. A country that can do much good in the world in sharing resources, empowering those with less if we draw out the best in each other and not the worst.

From Christian Nationalists, I also can appreciate a clear sense of being God’s chosen. The belief that God is with and for us. That God has a plan and we each have a part to play in it, a vital role placed there by God.

But, our God is much bigger than only these two points. God can’t be limited to one “preferred” country, one “preferred” people. For God made ALL of us. We are all made in the image of God, both male and female, Gentile and Jew, slave or free. All of us are made in the image of God, beyond limits, beyond society’s expectations, beyond tribalism. Beyond understanding.

Jesus, who healed the sick, who drew close to the unwanted, the rejected of society, who rode in on a donkey to the praise of the masses, was also killed in a mighty, cruel act. If you allow for mystery, it’s not hard then to believe that he died for you and me, for us and them, for those who believe and for those who don’t.

Lord, have mercy.

Beyond tribalism — that MY people or MY country or MY understanding is the one and only way.

Lord, have mercy.

Beyond fear — of difference, of there not being enough for all, of having to defend our borders to keep out the (fill in the blank).

Christ, have mercy.

The invitation is always to let go, if we want to go deeper spiritually … to let go of our rigid perceptions, preconceived ideas, and the need to understand and/or control. It is to wait, to receive, to be open to mystery. Even to let go of who we understand God to be and to trust instead.

Lord, have mercy.

Holy Week is a time where mystery awaits. Where beauty and ugliness live side by side. When loud hosannas are replaced with the sounds of a hammer hitting wood. With weeping and silence and questions and deep grief. Here is where God meets us.

This mysterious God knows no bounds. This loving God accepts all who come. This peaceful God rejects rigid, legalistic, religious beliefs that don’t accurately reflect the truth of who God was and is and will always be. After all, Jesus had more trouble with the religious leaders than with good ole regular sinners who knew they acted wrongly.

We can’t begin to really know God. God will not be put in a box of our own making. Will you join me in creating a space to walk alongside this God during Holy Week? To build an altar to this Unknown God?

~ Terri

photo by Charles Geiser