What’s new? Humans seem driven to want the latest news or the latest invention. The United Church of Christ has a national theme: “God is still speaking.” It uses the quote from Gracie Allen, “Never put a period where God has put a comma.” This is a breath of fresh air compared to those who think everything important has already been said. But its openness raises new questions. If God is still speaking, what is God saying? How is God saying it? Who decides if it is really God or just another human voice? What if what God is saying today contradicts what we thought God said yesterday? What if God said yesterday, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” What if that period should have been a comma? Listen to a whole sentence. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but that ancient metaphor has been replaced by the knowledge that we all are part of a self-creating universe” Who decides if this is God who is still speaking today? What if God said yesterday, “I live apart from you in a second universe.” Today a full sentence might be “I live apart from you in a second universe, but now I have chosen to dissolve myself into your one-universe to complete the incarnation I started in Jesus.” Who decides if this is God speaking today and how?
