Responses to my first "Musings" were spirited and helpful, even from one who considered my questioning to be inappropriate for one who calls himself "Christian." I was referred to various authors, including Stephen Mitchell, whose writings and translations I have found to be of particular importance in my journey. One friend noted that I had omitted "justice" from my list of godly attributes, a point well taken, and another urged that I approach the immanent/transcendent issue from a both/and instead of an either/or position. I thought I had, but obviously not with the clarity it deserved. And I found that others, too, are bothered by the use of anthropomorphic language for God. My thinking has been enriched by the responses I received. So, on we go, with some redundancy because I continue to ponder a number of issues -- and because some positions deserve to be stated in a number of different ways, even if they are later discarded. Such is the process of sorting through to a personal theology.

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My starting point, and the focus of my belief system, is thoroughly Christian. Jesus lived and taught a way of life to which I am committed. At its center is the application of unconditional love to all human situations. * * * * *
The way the universe works is value-neutral.

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Human beings, as meaning-makers, create religions to explain the world, to assist in controlling it, and to enhance his/her value.

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We can exercise limited control to use natural forces for good or ill, e.g., we can enhance or destroy our natural environment.

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We can exercise limited control in human relationships to enhance or destroy loving, supportive community.

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We can gain serentiy from accepting what we cannot change, changing what we can, and being wise enough to know the difference.

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Much of Jesus' message has to do with sorting out what is to be accepted from what is to be changed (what is controllable and what is to be let go) and with the courage and commitment to turn the overflow of the love we receive to serve the welfare of others.

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Our experience of mystery, order, love, beauty, goodness, oneness, etc. leads us to assume that there is a power greater than ourselves, and so we create "god(s)" as part of the meaning-making process.

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The meaning overlay that we adopt, with "God" as its hub or organizing principle, directs us toward the forces for good, justice, health, spirituality, etc. so that we may cooperate with those natural and human forces and so that we may be allied in community with others who share our pattern of meaning.

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Accidents, illness and death are not punishments, though they may be consequences of choosing a destructive way of life, e.g., substance abuse.

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Pain falls on the just and the unjust alike.

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Most problems are insoluble; scripture helps us deal with that fact.

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Christian scripture may contain all truth essential for our journey, but these truths are not exclusive to Christianity.

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Some teachings are central, by which I mean that they are primary means of working with the universe to create good, health, beauty, community, justice, etc., in accord with what we know from the sciences, particularly psychology, and our own experience. These teachings take on a quality of universality.

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Some teachings that make up the overlay of meaning that we apply to experience vary from culture to culture and include differing concepts of humankind and of supreme being.

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Still other teachings are peripheral, part of the lore. They contain a message but lack any literal credibility. There probably was a flood, plagues, bright star, etc., but the notion of divine intervention to cause these events in the natural world was surely added to make a point within the religious community. They were coincidental, synchronistic, and lend themselves nicely to metaphor.

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And some claims can only be credited as figures of speech. I would include here such reported events as Joshua commanding the sun to stand still, Jesus' miraculous birth, the bodily resurrection.

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What do I do with the miracles ascribed to Jesus? Surely they have their metaphorical meaning, but I am not ready to discount the possibility that one who is fully human -- who uses all of the potential that human beings have -- could have performed what we can only call miracles. Neither do I discount the possibility that at least some of these miracles were embellishments added to the accounts by authors and editors eager to impress their readers and hearers with the superhuman powers of this great religious leader.

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Some scriptural passages lend themselves to the support of racism, sexism, political chauvinism, homophobia, and the destruction of the environment.

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Even if we understand all scripture as metaphor (and I recognize that I am still struggling with my tendency to hear it as litarally as its authors and editors intended it to be heard), we need to apply measures of centrality.

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But do not (I say to myself) discount metaphor!! It is the language of spiritual (and human) truth. It is the best we can do with experiences that transcend literal expression and understanding. It is the appropriate language for spiritural matters. It conveys meaning beyond our literal reach.

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Mystery abounds -- beyond what we know scientifically, beyond our own experience, beyond our understanding of experience, beyond our understanding of ourselves. Higher and deeper and in all directions and dimensions, there is scientific, personal and spiritual truth as yet undiscovered. This is the excitement of the journey, and the reason it needs no destination. Welcome the confusion, uncertainty, doubt, paradox and ambiguity because they lead to the next increment of wisdom.

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Each new discovery exposes another layer of mystery. There is no lack of it. Mystery is one element of what I mean by "God."

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By the very definition of God as "that which is supremely significant and ultimately real" we will always fail to do justice to description of the divine. There will always be mystery beyond our best words.

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Because God dwells in mystery, I find it easier to affirm than to believe. Affirmations, I learn from the 12-step program, help me to remain positive on my healing journey; they remind me of my worth, my potential, even as I doubt. I struggle with concepts of God because I do not see the possibility that some supernatural being can interfere in the natural working of the universe. On the other hand, I can readily believe in the power of unconditional love and I can readily recognize that a power greater than myself exists as a spiritual presence that is activated in the community and by the community of loving individuals. That power, that presence, does not operate independently of human activity, though it often does seem that way as we experience grace, as we find healing beyond our understanding, as we experience the wonderful, awesome closeness of human beings caught up in the equation of love. We find ourselves, as we come to know ourselves at the deepest level and as we live relationships of the highest order, living in a spiritual dimension in which we acknowledge "God" without any need to understand or define.

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So, I affirm spiritual reality, present in unconditional love, to be found in community, overflowing creatively in service, and give that reality the proper name, "God."

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What of Christ? Jesus lived about 2000 years ago, and his followers understood him to be the Messiah, or Christ. It is a title, and its continued use signifies, to me at least, the recognition that Jesus continues to be among us wherever his influence and the power of his teachings are found. Jesus, the Christ, is alive to those who follow him.

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What of the Holy Spirit? I think the God I have identified above is more nearly Holy Spirit than Father. I find neither Father or Mother, nor any other words that identify God as being or entity, helpful as descriptors for God. I don't feel constrained to be trinitarian. As I understand the Trinity, there is little or no scriptural basis for that concept. It came into being a few hundred years after Jesus' life and death as a political solution to a theological conflict.

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To affirm God is to affirm that the mystery, the spiritual dimension, is user-friendly for our journey away from shame and guilt and toward health and wholeness.

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I am intrigued by the analogy of the wave and particle theories of the nature of light. I am told that we learn more about the nature of light when we perform experiments based on both assumptions than we do when we base studies on either of them alone. Apparently each contains some truth; the two together contain more truth than either alone; the complete truth is not yet known. Maybe our understanding of God in three persons is analogous to this scientific example.