01 Sep Do You Believe in a Higher Power?

Dear Westwood Church Family,

I was recently asked, “Do you believe in a higher power?” Uh. Yes. But then I had to explain it (somewhat). So this is what I wrote:

DO YOU BELIEVE IN A HIGHER POWER?

Yes.

I love the second story of creation in the Book of Genesis. It pictures a god who walks among humans, offering guidance not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They do eat, and realize that they are naked, vulnerable, ashamed. When God asks them what they’ve done (confession time), they blame each other and the snake. They try to make clothes out of scratchy fig leaves to hide their vulnerability. And God essentially says, “You’re outa here.” But God commits an amazing act of love by sewing clothing for them out of animal skins as they depart this Edenic, ignorant life.

It’s a great story that the ancients made up to help us get a handle on why a gracious, powerful God would put us in a world that is not only beautiful, having everything we need to survive, but also a world that demands so much from us with hardship, broken promises, and an awareness of how evil the world and its creatures can be.

When I think of my Higher Power, it is that image of the God in Genesis 3 who doesn’t take away the hurt, but equips us to move through the darkness, the loneliness, the sickness, the confusion, the greed.

On my best days, or moments, when I can “detach in love,” I know that power of guidance, wisdom, and grace for myself and others.

Yep. I believe in a Higher Power.

Rev. Dr. Diana Holbert