God is the Ocean

Charlie Peacock said: “God is the ocean, and we keep writing about a cup of water.”

Yeah, we keep talking about, singing about, preaching about a cup of water…

I’ve lived by the Pacific Ocean most of my life. Born in Hawaii, now live on the California coast. (My condolences to those of you incarcerated by land mass.) I’ll never forget when attending a conference in Missouri, a woman who in person had never seen the ocean (any ocean) asked me, “Is it big?!”

I’ve seen it, swam in it, walked along its sandy border, been on top of it in boats and one ship. Not a huge fan of the latter. But yeah, it’s big. Like anyone, I can Google its dimensions, its depths, locate it on maps, or observe it via photos from space, but in reality I have no idea how big.

I can’t improve Michele Morin’s poetic observation of Peacock’s metaphor. She says:

I hear the challenge in this statement, but the ocean is large and turbulent.

It misbehaves, ebbs and flows according to its own timetable–not mine.

The ocean will not be corralled.

How much easier it is to deal with water contained in a cup.

I can hold it in my hand.

I can see it all at once:
flavor it with tea;
control the temperature;
drink it if I please
or dump it down the drain.

————–

I like to say, “I know God. Jesus introduced us.” But what do I actually know of God? I know what I’ve read, what I’ve heard, what I’ve seen, what I’ve felt (experienced). But he’s the ocean and I’ve only just begun to wade.

Back to Morin:

“We say that we want to ‘experience God,’ but the reality is that we want him to enter our boundaries and to act in ways that we approve of.”