God, our Father
We give thanks for this day

Thanks for the air we breathe

While it is right to talk about your greatness

We also want to remember your goodness

You are a generous God.
You have laced creation with love and power.

You’ve given us parents, children, friends, spouses.

You’ve provided food and shelter.

You’ve opened doors for wisdom and education.

Our prayer is for you to not simply shape us into thankful people.

Our prayer is that you would inspire us in such a way that we would dream of ways for us to bless others.

Like doctors need pain.

Like deserts need rain.

Like children need love.

Like rain from above.

We need your love.

Views of God in the United States–in the order of popularity. If the scandal of Christianity is that “God is like Jesus”–which view should emerge as orthodox/true to the trajectory of scripture?

Authoritarian: God is still involved in the daily affairs of the world. Believers think God helps them in their decision making and influences global events. The Authoritarian God is angry and punishes the unfaithful or sinful. (think: God as the police officer)

Benevolent: The Benevolent God is a positive influence on the world, not as angry or wrathful as the Authoritarian God. The Benevolent God is heavily involved in the lives of humans but less willing to punish them (think: The Shack).

Critical: The Critical God watches the world from afar with displeasure but does not interfere. Believers think the unfaithful will feel the Critical God’s anger in another world (think: SNL Church Lady).

Distant: The Distant God is a God who set life and nature in motion. He is not active in the world or angry at what happens. God does not help people or hold about the world or human beings (think: the old man in the sky).

From the recent Baylor Study on Religion.

Untitled from Kara Graves on Vimeo.

This is from three years ago.

This is a picture of me and Dr. Brueggemann after he’d announced that the course he taught at Columbia Seminary would be his last academic teaching experience. None of us in the class had any idea that we would not only be sitting in on a true legend but that this would be his final “game”. The final thirty minutes Friday were dedicated to allowing the students to ask whatever question we desired (theology, future of the church, etc.). The one that impacted me the most was his “admission” that he stayed at Columbia Seminary all these years (instead of being at a place like Harvard, Yale, etc.) because he wanted to teach and form students who’d directly become “doctors of the church” (Brueggemann classic).

I don’t know if I’ve ever been around a person who knows Scripture as well as Dr. Brueggemann. The conservative myth that liberal scholars (and he’s liberal because of his commitment to taking postmodern culture seriously) don’t know the text is just that . . . a myth.

Doctoral students from South Korea, China, U.K, Jamaica, India, Atlanta, Detroit, New Jersey, Alabama, Mississippi (among other places). We had Hispanic, Anglo, black, African, et al brothers and sisters from a mix of different tribes: Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ (me), Baptist, Congregationalist, Pentecostal, Anglican, gathered to study the Torah. And in doing so, we left believing that God might not be done with us. God just might be up to something we don’t yet even have the language to express.