Who is God to you?

I was going through my e-mails this afternoon and I came on one that I missed last month. A young person from St. Joseph's School wrote asking me about my relationship to God. They were sent out to ask a community clergyman to share their view of who God was. The request came the day before I left for Australia so it slipped through the cracks. This afternoon I answered the question even though it was probably too late for the assignment.

The truth is that each of us should think about the question and try to answer it from our own understanding. We should never just take these things for granted. As we answer the question, God becomes clearer in our own understanding. Anyway, here is my answer. I've changed the name to protect this young person but the answer is the one I gave.

Dear Brian,

I am sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. I left for a trip to Australia on September 9th and overlooked your request when I got back. It is probably too late for your religion class but I will answer your question briefly.

Who is God to me? God is my creator and the lover of my soul. I believe that God created each and every one of us to have a life long relationship with. He didn't need to create us. He chose to do so because he was so filled with love that he wanted to make a partner to share it with. He created the earth, the solar system, and all that was and then singled out this planet and filled it with life.

We are the source of God's greatest joy, especially when we choose to reflect his love and pass it on. God is my friend. I walk and talk with him every day. I don't always hear his voice but I see him in the people and places I go. He is also worthy of my praise and worship. He is ultimate good and he is ultimately just. I am not worthy of his affection but he gives it anyway.

We see this most perfectly in the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, who came and offered his life on the cross to fulfill God's righteousness and take the punishment for my selfishness, sin and disobedience. God is holy and he calls for holiness from us. Yet we fail miserably and our sin separates us from God. But in his perfect love, God came to earth in the form of a human being. He was born to Mary and lived a perfect life so he could offer himself at the right time, so that the gap between heaven and earth, God and man, could be bridged. Now we can claim his righteousness and find forgiveness and new life. As the hymn says, "What a friend we have in Jesus." And ultimately that means we have a friend in God.

Today he is a part of my life. I talk to him every day and I love him. I am blessed by him. As a child of God I now am called to tell others just how much God loves them. I want them to know what I know. God is good and God loves us all.

How's that? Cal Lord's theology of God in a nutshell. Good luck with your class. Again I apologize for not getting back to you sooner.

Cal