Change and decay in all around I see:   
O Thou who changest not, abide with me!

Very occasionally I read an article or hear a sermon which (for me) sheds new light on old problems. An article by the President of the Methodist Church in the Methodist Recorder of June 14th 2007 is one such. Unfortunately it is not on the Web which is why I am writing this.  His thesis revolves around challenging the idea of an Unchanging God and writes "the only unchanging aspect of God is God's love". I like that and it challenges the oft preached idea of the Immutable God, the same yesterday, to-day and for ever? Or at least the interpretation of it. As the President points out; both Abraham and Moses managed to change God's mind  and the Syro-Phoenecian woman changed the mind of Jesus (Mark 7 vs 24 to 30) with what must be the very best comeback response in history. How often do I think after an important conversation:  " If only I had thought of saying that at the time".

Why is all this important? At least since St. Thomas Aquinas there has been theological debate about whether prayer can change God's mind in the light of His Providence and Omniscience (Having infinite knowledge of all things). Generally the Church simply obeys St Paul's exhortation to make prayers, and supplications, and to give thanks for all men; (1Tim 2 vs 1 to 6) and hopes they will be efficacious. Sometimes they are and sometimes not.  In the latter case we are reminded that we also pray always that God's will be done and left to conclude that despite our pleas (for example the return of a lost child) it was God's will that s/he was not found. Yes this is the old chesnut (as some might think) of why does God allow.....? The fact is that the problem cause a rift between the well intentioned  Church and the majority of the well intentioned public. The former leave the problem largely unconsidered, the latter use it to avoid Church.

Obviously I am not going to resolve the problem here (oh how I wish I could). But the President's thoughts on change make some progress. He quotes John Henry Newman "To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often". He also points out that it took 1800 years for the Christian Church to decide that slavery was not God's will.  I would ask what was the Holy Spirit doing all that time since He was promised to lead us into all truth? Perhaps He was trying all the time and continues to try to persuade us to continue to change on things like the ordination of women and homosexuality. Creation is often described as continuous and even to involve us in partnership with God. Perhaps, in His interaction with Creation, God is indeed changing His mind. Or, if that seems too strong a statement, God is at work all the time interacting, guiding and correcting Creation as any parent does with a child or a potter with clay. Certainly potters and human parents learn and change during the process. So if the analogies of God the Father  and God the Potter hold, then perhaps God learns too?

We are told that the incarnation of God in Jesus was planned from the beginning, but with God there is no beginning or end, He exists in eternity, not a very long time but outside of time and space. During the brief incarnation Jesus learnt a great deal including temptation, but He did not learn what it was like to be a sinner, except perhaps at the last moment on the Cross, when He is described as becoming Sin for our sakes. Perhaps in the shape of the Holy Spirit (proceeding from the Father and the Son), He continues to learn more about us as He works in and through us to do the Father's will. How much easier it would be for Him if we were mere puppets. God has chosen (yes from the beginning) that we should not be puppets but co-workers and like anyone doing a worthwhile job, learning more each day.

So let us open our minds to change and correction not just in fresh expressions of church but in our fresh understanding of God and His will. One thing that continually bothers me is that I dare to pray about my concerns which, compared to the terrible things going on in the world, are trivial.  The answer to that is threefold;

• God is big enough to deal with everthing from the trivial to the terrible.
• Within the constraints He has set Himself, the former are easier.
• I must not neglect to pray about or be overwhelmed by the terrible things.

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