This week I saw a quote on social media that really grabbed me, and I admit I am a little gobsmacked by it. These words of wisdom are alleged to have come from Barry Taylor,1 formerly the road manager for AC/DC. Taylor converted to Christianity during the band’s “Highway to Hell” tour and later became an Episcopal priest. He is quoted as having said, "God is the name of the blanket we throw over mystery to give it shape."
God is the name of the blanket we throw over mystery to give it shape. I think that is a pretty powerful image, and it parallels what theologians Phyllis Trible and Sallie McFague (and many others) have alluded to, that in truth all language about God is metaphor.2 We can’t define God. We can’t really say definitively what God is, except that God is Being, God is Is-ness. (I am who I am; I will be who I will be).
But we can and do wonder about the character and nature of God, the qualities of God, who God is. Consider the accumulation of millennia of art and music and poetry and drama, of books and stories and dance and countless imaginings, ways people have tried to and continue to try to express what is ineffable. Over the ages, millions of human beings have been about the work of fashioning that blanket Barry Taylor talks about, and we’ll keep doing it, because the possibilities are infinite. What can be expressed about the mystery I call The Exhale is inexhaustible.
This has been a freeing concept for me, and I hope it can be for you. A way to play with this idea using language, and I invite you to try it if you feel so inclined, is to write down on a piece of paper “God is the one who _______” and then fill in the blank, and just go off the top of your head, don’t overthink it, just start writing and keep going. I’d go for 20 tries just to see what emerges. Usually around 12 or 13 things start to get interesting.
Write your list like this:
God is the one who __________________
God is the one who __________________
God is the one who __________________
…and so on. And then start filling in the blanks with whatever comes to you. You don’t have to use Bible words or stories. You can if you want, but you don’t have to.
It’s officially the beginning of summer, so I’m going to mix up a big pitcher of iced Lemon Zinger herbal tea and find a comfy overstuffed chair out on the Treehouse’s big beautiful deck as it’s beginning to take shape. I think the view is going to be amazing. I hope you’ll join me.
A happy little rabbit hole. Barry in conversation with Tripp Fuller in April 2024, “Theology Beyond Religion” on Tripp’s podcast, Homebrewed Christianity.
Most of the words on my list of "God is the one who..." did correspond with biblical descriptions (creates, loves, advises, etc.). When I ran out of those ideas, I started thinking more outside the box with things like: births, swoops, dances, mourns, snuggles, flows, etc. I'm not sure why I even feel silly sharing some of those!?