God and the World: Profoundly Interdependent
Process theology sees God and the world as profoundly interdependent. God is the source of possibility and novelty as well as life-supporting tradition and order. God is also the primary recipient of value. As the prayer book affirms, God is the One to whom all hearts are open and all desires known. God is the most moved mover, touching all things and also being touched by all things. God experiences first-hand what we do to the least of these: God feels our joy and our pain, and is the fellow sufferer who understands. God’s vision of possibility and impact on the world is shaped by our openness to God’s vision of Shalom. Accordingly, we love God by loving creation; creation-ethics and God-centered ethics are one and the same. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is noted for her affirmation: ‘Do something beautiful for God.’ Ethics revolves around the question: ‘Will you do something beautiful for God? Do your actions and the actions of our government add to the beauty or ugliness of the world? Do we bring greater joy or sorrow to God’s life?’… What we do, whether individually or corporately, truly matters to God. It can enhance or limit God’s impact on the world… Our vocation is to be God’s companions in what Jewish mystics called tikkun ‘olam, ‘mending the world.’ We truly can do something beautiful for God, whether in Washington DC, our church, or family.
Bruce Epperly, Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God, pp 34-35
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