The Size of Our Lens...The Size of Our God
In the 13th century, there was a marvelous giant of a man, who was
for Germany much of what Patrick was for Ireland. His name was
Meister Eckhart. Meister Eckhart was a great preacher and teacher,
a fascinating individual, but the reason he was so gifted was that
he had an enormous inner spiritual life. He was really a mystic.
Meister Eckhart went so far with changing the concept of God for
his people that the church began to try him as a heretic. He died
right before he was to be condemned as heretical.

Here's one of Meister Eckhart's famous statements: "The eye with
which you see God is the same eye with which God sees you." Now,
let me say that again in a couple of different ways. If you tend
to see God, let's say, as a policeman, the only way you can feel
God coming into your world is as a policeman. Or if you see God,
for example, as a Santa Claus, whatever that might be, the only
way you can receive God's presence into your life is as a Santa
Claus figure. How you and I perceive God is the way we understand
God's presence in our lives.

It behooves you and me to constantly try to take that lens with
which we see God and make it more of a wide-angle lens rather than
a telephoto lens. We want to expand it as much as we can so that
we might receive from God more than we have ever received from God
before in our lives. The more we can do this, the more we're blessed
by the enormity of the presence of God's love and compassion and
acceptance of me and of you.

--from the sermon "What is Your Concept of God?"
by the Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Matthews

Read the sermon in its entirety.