This
is my second time to comment on our newspaper (OC Register) section
FAITH & VALUES, Aug. 26, 2013. Side by side are articles regarding
personal "faith journey" experiences. The one which caught my eye and I
read first was Religion, Minus The God Stuff. The individual is Sari
Schreiber. Though Judaism is central to her identity, there was a
teaching of the faith that she just couldn't accept:
GOD. Then she had what she called an 'ah-ha' moment - the University
Synagogue's philosophy of godliness is that God is in the good deeds we
do as positive energy in the world and since she doesn't believe in God,
this definition of positive energy was, as she put it: 'Oh, I can deal
with that.'
This is part of a growing movement in Judaism that preserves Jewish ritual and tradition but does not require belief in a supernatural God. I (Gini) felt SO SAD when I read this. Then, I read the article next to it - PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM about singer-songwriter Sam Phillips, and her take on GRACE. Ahhhhh, I thought (Gini) - one of my favorite words. But, actually, this also left me feeling a bit sad as well. Only one time in almost an entire page was GOD mentioned. "Grace has something to do with patience, with waiting - on other people, on your best intentions or your gut, and on God." So, after reading this I wondered if there is a grace other than God's. I went to Webster: 1a unmerited divine assistance given man for his regeneration or sanctification and 3a disposition to or an act or instance of kindness or clemency. All of this took me back to one of my favorite books: In The Grip of Grace by Max Lucado. He writes "Does God really love us forever? Not just on Easter Sunday when our shoes are shined and our hair is fixed. We want to know how does God feel about me when I mess up, fail or fall short? When I snap at anything that moves; when my thoughts are gutter-level; when my tongue is sharp enough to slice a rock. How does HE feel about me then? In The Grip...reminds me that the God who first made me is strong enough to sustain me. I would like to introduce Sari Schreiber to HIM. This star-breather, this Shalom, This Holy, Holy, Holy One who raises my head and knows my thoughts before I do is so amazing. Hope some day she will open her heart to HIM.
This is part of a growing movement in Judaism that preserves Jewish ritual and tradition but does not require belief in a supernatural God. I (Gini) felt SO SAD when I read this. Then, I read the article next to it - PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM about singer-songwriter Sam Phillips, and her take on GRACE. Ahhhhh, I thought (Gini) - one of my favorite words. But, actually, this also left me feeling a bit sad as well. Only one time in almost an entire page was GOD mentioned. "Grace has something to do with patience, with waiting - on other people, on your best intentions or your gut, and on God." So, after reading this I wondered if there is a grace other than God's. I went to Webster: 1a unmerited divine assistance given man for his regeneration or sanctification and 3a disposition to or an act or instance of kindness or clemency. All of this took me back to one of my favorite books: In The Grip of Grace by Max Lucado. He writes "Does God really love us forever? Not just on Easter Sunday when our shoes are shined and our hair is fixed. We want to know how does God feel about me when I mess up, fail or fall short? When I snap at anything that moves; when my thoughts are gutter-level; when my tongue is sharp enough to slice a rock. How does HE feel about me then? In The Grip...reminds me that the God who first made me is strong enough to sustain me. I would like to introduce Sari Schreiber to HIM. This star-breather, this Shalom, This Holy, Holy, Holy One who raises my head and knows my thoughts before I do is so amazing. Hope some day she will open her heart to HIM.
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