God Is Bigger Than America

The thought has been brewing in my mind for the past couple of weeks and it was solidified today during chapel: God is bigger than America.

Not only that, but the power and message of Christ is bigger than anything we can comprehend.

Recently, I’ve realized just how limited is my scope of the gospel and just how narrow my understanding of the ways in which the Spirit works and reveals the love of God. I understand my culture and context, and I do everything I can to be the face of God’s love where I am…but where I am, in America—in southern America at that—is so small in relation to the world in which we live. All of my thoughts, strategies, and passions are filtered through the lens of Smalltown, consumer based, living in abundance, I want it now, white, privileged, USA.

I understood contextualized theology in divinity school. I got it. But now, I get it in a different way. And I can’t help but marvel at just how big God is.

Today’s speaker chapel was a minister from India. Long story short, his parents were ex-communicated from their Hindu village for becoming believers of the Shepherd Jesus. The white missionary who spoke of the white God of Jesus wasn’t welcome by the village leader, the minister’s grandfather, because he felt that his people didn’t need an outsider God added to their list of already numerous gods. The parents left and raised their son through hardships. Thirteen years later, just before he died, the grandfather called his family back and said, “Now I see that your God is the one true God. After all these years, when you should have died, you are still alive and you still profess faith in Jesus. Your Jesus is the God in whom I want to believe. All of my other gods are not real. Do you think your Jesus could ever forgive me?”

In writing this, I realize that this story may not sound profound. But somehow, for me, today, it speaks to something that has been stirring in me for awhile. I don’t know how to explain it. And I admit that this note is doing a poor job. But God is bigger than America. And the power and message of Christ are bigger than anything I can comprehend. And that’s the best I can do to share my thoughts and work through my struggles today...