As he has in the past, Morwood illustrates this effectively by showing a transparency of the Milky Way Galaxy and points out that we are living on a smallish planet revolving around a sun on an outer spiral of an immense collection of stellar bodies. One could suggest that God is like a clear transparency overlaid to show an omnipresence totally blending with the cosmos as opposed to that transparency being located above and separated from the swirl of stars and worlds. Is God and Heaven somewhere "out there" as our traditional theology might suggest, or is God throughout and within the totality of Being?

We are living in a time of astounding new discovery about our place in the cosmos, and we have had little time to assimilate this emerging understanding of our place in it. Amidst this time of change we are called to develop a new story. We must bring forth a new image...in fact a new imagining and expression of God within us.

Our own Tom Smith-Myott introduced Mr. Morwood noting that it was his third visit to our community. (You can see coverage of his previous visits in the SJA Web Events in Review archives.) In the past he has addressed the congregation at Sunday services, but was unable to do so this year due to scheduling. Admittedly during the current liturgical challenges even Fr. George allowed that his appearance could be controversial. Morwood acknowledged that to some Bishops he is persona non grata, and having him speak on Sunday may be like waving red in front of a bull. While that is unfortunate, a crowd of parishioners and guests were able to imagine along with this Australian thinker about a refreshing new celebration of Man's quest to acknowledge God in our lives.

Morwood began by citing two questions he is most frequently asked by those familiar with his notions: What about Prayer? and What happens when you die?. These questions shaped his address for the evening, and are served by the reflections in his latest book. The greatest challenge facing Christianity is our concept of God. The tribal experience of our ancestors currently drives the God of our Tradition. But we must ask if God listens to our prayers of supplication. Does God decide the role of women in the church? Does God care about our worship?

He suggests we must move in a new imagination of God. We must see Jesus as he was to his followers...before Paul preached a resurrection, and before John's Gospel developed a theology based on an "elsewhere God". Morwood joked that considering the frigid temperatures of the upper atmosphere it makes it look bad for the ascension. Instead we must rid our view of God from an UP/DOWN theology (God up there, us down here. Heaven up there, etc). We must move from an imagination where God has to come down to save us, and restore the imagination where God is found "in the stable of our lives...God found in the poor and destitute".

In a new imagining we must find a way as beings in this middle-of-the-road existence to take our feeling of God and bring expression to it. Through Jesus we find a special realization of God and we give witness to it. We can continue to express it in ritual. We can gather around bread and wine. Tell the story of Jesus. Celebrate God in that way. We will no longer need to worry about transubstantiation. We can celebrate our Teacher Jesus who was a Jew celebrating a custom and asked us to remember him in that way. Morwood suggests that we have theologized this event and its' meaning in an intellectually dishonest way.

But this is not about bringing something from outside (note how Augustinian thinking on Original Sin has us delivered into this world as separated from God), but this is instead an expression of God "from everywhere". "Praying A New Story" offers reflections with a language that acknowledges this God with us and within us.

While these ideas are certainly challenging, Michael Morwood reminds us of his conflict with the Congregation on the Doctrine of Faith who maintain that Jesus was somehow not held sway to his own emotions (is that a human Jesus?). This image gives us an 'Elsewhere God' rather than an 'Everywhere God'. Morwood's image does not intend to create controversy, but rather to help us to instead embrace a Christ who

and

David Rotert is a communications technician. He, his wife Sue and two boys used to walk to SJA each Sunday. They since moved to St Louis Park, but are now happy to make the drive. David and his family have been attending SJA for over 10 years. You may see him serving host or wine on Sundays, and doing the readings whenever he can help. He is also always game for a good philosophical discussion. David can be reached at dsrotert@worldnet.att.net.

knows what it is like to face the day-to-day challenges of life. His is a vision which brings a unique realness to our place in today's world. His is an everywhere God. It is a refreshing image, and we can only hope he continues to visit us at St. Joan's.