My husband is a big fan of the Mash episodes from the past. He tends to watch a couple of these programs each day. I consider the series more a man's interest than a woman's, but--as I was waiting for the local news--one of the endings last week caught my attention. The chaplain was presenting a sermon before one of the important hierarchical members of the church. He haltingly said something like, "God created us so that He could exist with us." I have read the idea before in various spiritual books, but I began thinking more about the truth of the idea. I went back to the book of Genesis and re-read the creation story a couple of times. We know that God has emotions because we as humans have them, and we are created in His image. Also, the Old Testament and the New Testament indicate that He has the emotions of love, anger, and so on depending upon what humans are up to at any given point. I am always surprised, however, to think of God's greatness contrasted to our puny juvenile behaviors and to realize that God actually wants to exist with us. He wants to pursue a relationship with us and be our Friend.
Traditional teaching within the evangelical church says that God has always co-existed with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit, we believe as Christians, that lives within us to give us gentle reminders that we need to emulate Christ through caring for those who are the weakest in society, reminding us of the need for confession when we hurt others or ourselves, and sharing the Word of God with others who might not be believers. We do not hear that much in our churches, however, about God's creating us for fellowship with Him.
It stands to reason that, if God perceived that the first man was lonely and should not be alone, that He Himself also had that emotional need for love, friends, and respect. Reason tells us we should give Him that honor every day through our praise and worship. We fail so often though to include Him even in our thoughts. I have developed a new respect for the truths presented in Mash.
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