“Simple” : Systematic Theology from Death Row : Casey McWhorter & Jeff Hood)

“Simple” : Systematic Theology from Death Row : Casey McWhorter & Jeff Hood)

God is simple.  We try so hard to make God complicated…but God is Simple…Simply present.  God is always about presence.  We are never alone.  There is always the presence.  It is Simple.

What makes God’s presence so Simple?  It’s the kind word from the most unlikely of spaces.  It’s the beautiful birds outside the window.  It’s the unexpected joy of a sunset.  It’s the comfort of a friendship.  It’s anything and everything that reminds us that there is something unexplainable within and without…presence.  Indeed, consciousness is the evidence of presence…the presence of God…the presence of eternal profundity in the Simple.

We cannot see because we dare not open our eyes.  We are afraid that somehow the truth is going to be so Simple that it will be disappointing.  This is one of the most devastating consequences of our consumption-based society.  We think that the more we consume the more we matter.  Simplicity is frightening in such a space.  God has always been countercultural in such a world.  The Simple does not fit.  Therefore, those who open their eyes to the Simplicity of God feel so isolated from the world…yet even amid such isolation…they never feel alone.

The Simple is about awareness.  We pay so much attention to what doesn’t matter.  What should we be aware of?  The Simple.  The place where God is.  Love.  Justice.  Grace.  Mercy.  These are Simple concepts…yet our acceptance of them changes everything.  The Simple saves our life.  Death no longer has power…because our hope is in the Simple…the presence of the Simple.  Life overcomes death because fundamental Simple truths carry us into eternity…because such truths never die.  The Simple Simply is Simple.

Be still and know that the Simple is Simple.  Be still and know that God is God.  The Incarnation of God is all around us.  Open your eyes…it is Simple.