Alpha and Omega

If someone felt disconnected and distant from God it was her!

"Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but You say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. ” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. " — John 4:20-24

Virtually all religions prescribe certain methods and means of worshiping God—locations, music styles, languages, prayer content, liturgies.

There are so many options, dogmas, religions, and traditions out there that contradict. They can ’t all be right. And it’ s just overwhelming! Many people can understandably be turned off from religion. However, to turn away from the pursuit of God is illogical—especially because God has done so much to make Himself accessible! Because God is spirit, He transcends man ’ s desire to put Him in a physical box. If God is spirit, then He is not limited by any physical medium. New age movements and many eastern worldviews perceive this in part, yet their folly is to not address other aspects of who God is—truths evident about Him that limit the range of potential instituted methods of reaching Him.

How does Jesus approach this issue? Jesus does not confine worship of God to specific music styles or methods or liturgies. Instead, He says that all worship of the Father that is in the Holy Spirit and is truthful to the reality of who He is is valid and acceptable to God as worship.

This is not a relativistic expansion to all religions. Those who do not accept the divinity and message of Jesus of Nazareth are not abiding in the truth, do not have the Holy Spirit, and their worship is not acceptable to God because they reject the central truth claim about God and His message to us (John 5:37–40).

At the same time, as God is spirit and not physically bound, He can be worshiped and accessed from any physical location and state.

It also gives space for mysticism.

Transcendent and immanent.

Creator yet not created.

He is time sensitive and conscious yet eternal.

He is utterly beyond what our mind can conceive, for our minds cannot understand the higher dimensions of the spiritual world. As the heavenly realms of the angels still marvel at God’ s ways and so deeply desire to understand the mystery of His grace, He will also be beyond our full understanding. His spirit-ness is utterly mystical.

Oh, to know the fullness of You, oh LORD! Your ways are beyond me—show me who You are! Knowledge of You is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. — inspired by Psalm 139

As Gilbert K. Chesterton noted in The Ethics of Elfland, the whole magic of "fairyland" is that it presents itself to us as it is. Neither the reader nor Cinderella have any say in the fact that her carriage turns into a pumpkin at midnight. It’ s strange, weird, wild, mystical, and awesome. What is beyond our comprehension? Spiritual stimuli to our physical senses? It is something that we fear, remain in awe of, and simply rejoice in.

The attribute of physicality is tied up in a whole host of other characteristics; as opposed to being physical, God’ s spirituality is a beautiful and wonderful aspect of who He is and is fundamental to every other attribute. This is fitting in light of the reality that God inhabits the fullness of each of His attributes.

He ’ s beyond you, yet also within you.

Like the bright shining sun, you can ’t see Him directly—

He

’ s too pure—but you can see Him through shadow, and it' s through His light you see all.

From beyond time, He swoops in and touches our time.

Self-existent, I AM I AM, the one who IS, first and foremost, not defined or contained by any specific action. He is being, and bestows the gift of being upon all.

He is God. He is Spirit.