What do the lyrics say about God? Do they present him as he is - the God who is beyond our imagining - or do they bring him down to our size? Do our words help us realise God's awesome grandeur, or do they present him simply as a mate who helps us through life's troubles and finds us parking spaces when we need them? Yes, our God is intimate as well as infinite, yes he knows the number of hairs on our heads - but if we have the idea of God as fundamentally like us but a bit bigger, we have missed the point. God is entirely Other. We are bound by time and space, he is not. The greatest wisdom of humanity falls infinitely short of God's thoughts. Our power is pitifully limited, whereas God never fails to achieve anything he chooses to do.Matt understands that, in much of our corporate worship, God is considered friend much more than he is considered God. The pendulum is swung left (or to the right?). But I do think that one must understand God not just as the transcendent, mighty and auspiciously holy Lord. One must also consider the biblical teaching that God is indeed immanent too. And his immanence is known mostly in the person and work of Christ.
One of my favorite portions of scripture is in Mark when Jesus raises the little girl from the dead. When he goes into the house, he does not push everyone out of the way, raise his hands into the air and proclaim loudly that she rise from the dead. Rather, he goes, sits by her side and, probably in a whisper, says Talitha cumi, which was the original Aramaic. It's most basic meaning, as R.T. France says, is 'Lamb.' Jesus, in truth, was saying to her 'Rise, little kid.'
Yes, proclaim the greatness of God. But also that he has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ. It is no easy task, but it is a tension we must hold if we are to paint an accurate picture of God.
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