The Valley of the Shadow

Published: June 20, 2008, 4:52 a.m.

b'In his Pentecost 4 sermon, Glynn takes a close look at the absence of God in our lives. Yes those times exist.\\n\\n"The word \\u2018God\\u2019 is a way to construct meaning. Some would say we create God in order to have meaning. God becomes a piece of slate onto which we write our assumptions and understandings of life and the world. As the slate metaphor implies this is a fixed, static, compliant God \\u2013 one who is assumed to be understanding and predictable. \\n\\nBut then something happens. Maybe we move, or maybe God does. Or, as is often the case, trauma comes smashing into our lives extinguishing the light. The slate shatters\\u2026 maybe replaced by cloud or fire or a wrestling of the soul... but not by anything we\\u2019ve known previously as God.\\n\\nWith the shattering of the slate that God is gone." Full text at http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=447&id=850'