Getting away from 3rd grade God (part I)

One of my frustrations with the way that Christianity is practiced (at least within US culture) is that we tend to get stuck in what I'd call a 3rd grade view of God.  This is especially true in how we present things to outsiders and young people, but it extends beyond that.

Outside of theological discussions--which tend to remain the realm of adult Christians already heavily invested in their faith, perhaps understandably--we tend to present God in an overly simplistic, two-dimensional way.  (At least to the extent that we emphasize individual relationship with God at all... not Catholicism's strong point, in general.)

This 3rd grade God is the God of stars and hearts and flowers and rainbows and bunny rabbits.  This is appropriate for young children, because God's love for us is fundamental, as is the idea that God is the source of all gifts, all good.  God gives us good things.

But it's not an appropriate idea of God for adults. 

If our view of God is only hearts and stars and bunny rabbits, there's no room for human pain, confusion, and grief--no room for the complexities of life that are readily apparent to teens and adults.  To a lot of attentive and thoughtful people, for whom 3rd grade God is the only version of God with which they've ever been presented, God can appear fundamentally incompatible with their experiences.  I think that apparent incompatibility is part of what alienates many thoughtful, intelligent people from the Church and/or the Christian faith.  And for the people who remain, the weight of 3rd grade God can stunt spiritual growth.

The God I've come to know as an adult is still the source of all goodness and all gifts.  But it's not quite so simple.  God isn't some kind of supernatural Santa Claus, existing to give us exactly what we want if only we ask for it nicely enough.

First of all, we're humans, and we're never going to deserve any of the gifts we get.  Second of all, that way of thinking reduces our relationship with God to a transaction.  That's pretty sad, when God is offering us relationship--something far more meaningful than a transaction.

But most important, that view of God misstates God's promise.  As I have come to see it, God's promise is to be with us, fully and intimately, through our suffering and our joy.  That's what's exemplified in the life of Jesus, as told by the gospels.  God's promise is to be with us, our Emmanuel, not to give us everything that we want.