When you talk to people about the Reformed tradition they often say that it is strong on the Sovereignty of God. God is the one in control and calling the shots. It seems to come with the territory; God is the one whose will is supreme over all of creation. We like to stress how because God is all-powerful, he is not like another human being. God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent ; God is not just a super human; God is different; God is other.
Hang on a tick, what was that last word “other”. As a sociologist “other” is a potent word. It is used in two distinct ways. The first meaning of “other” is that which is lost between the conceptual and the real; the intangible something that disappears when an act is said or done. If you want a concrete example think how once a choice is made the other options are no longer available. It is essentially something we only know through loss but it is everywhere around us. Actually it is quite a good image for God, something so close it haunts every word you speak and yet so intangible that in the act of speaking it disappears.
The second definition is less comfortable; “other” also refers to that which is outside the core, the negative image of a concept. Therefore the term “other” is sometimes seen as being female instead of male, being black rather than white and being gay rather than straight. The person without a home, those who are disabled and the immigrant seeking work are all examples of the other. In which case the bible verse “He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing.” (Deuteronomy 10:18 New Living Translation) has a specific potency. These are not just the people God defends because he is just but by their very outside nature they are of God, in a way that those more powerful among the chosen people were not; reflecting back at the insiders something of God’s otherness.
If that is the case, then I have been making God too small and I suspect I always will do. The challenge (if you like the act of repentance for this) is for me to see God in the places where I am uncomfortable and by so doing to extend my image of what God is like. Maybe by so doing I will open up new possibilities and find God is there within new situations, speaking in the unlooked for opportunities.
