How Are We Influenced by God’s Love?

By Brian Claude Macallan

Amipotence raises the important question as to how we experience and are influenced by God’s love.

As someone who has emerged from within the Pentecostal and Charismatic tradition, I continue to be interested in how we might encounter God and discern God’s dream for the world. I no longer find much of what that particular tradition suggests around these issues to be particularly helpful though.

My own experience with cancer and a journey towards open and relational theologies have caused me to resist theological positions that assume omnipotence. The idea that God is all-powerful and can intervene in the universe without the engagement and participation of other things (whether particles or human beings) no longer works for me. I’m convinced too, in contrast to positions embracing omnipotence, that the problem of evil is sufficiently addressed by various open and relational theologies, particularly process theology. However, I’m less convinced that we have sufficiently come to terms with how God influences the world, or at least how we can experience that influence more deeply.

Certain parts of the Christian tradition believe God is able to break into our world and unilaterally bring about miracles, while at the same time having worked out formulas to get God to do so. These positions within the Christian tradition can make us want to park the question of God’s influence in the world. Sometimes, it seems like the only option is a version of Harry Potter where we can cast spells (scriptures or prayers) to influence reality or God to intervene. The options appear to be between what Oord refers to as omnipotence and impotence.

What I found of most interest in Oord’s new book was his attempt to get to the heart of this question, yet to travel a different route to get there through the lens of Amipotence. The question I am interested in, having read Oord’s book, is: “How do we cultivate certain spiritual and religious practices in a way that allows us to discern God’s leading (lure) in our congregations and individual lives?”

Oord suggests that we might begin by realizing that God’s love is everywhere present (omnipresent) and always holding forth the best option for all of life, all of the time. Language that we might have used historically, such as “God, we welcome you here” or “God, would you please help this person experience peace,” really doesn’t make much sense anymore. I think this language is problematic. God is always here and always wanting the best for individuals, driven by Amipotence and its governing idea of love (Tom refers to it as the priority of love). Here, love is the beginning and endpoint of the process.

I agree with Oord that we needn’t accept the idea that God does nothing as the only alternative. If we work with his idea in the book of both a mental and physical pole for all of reality and affirm that this applies to God too, we can begin to glimpse how influence and interaction between God and the world might take place.

Oord suggests that we might perceive God through non-sensory perception too, as part of understanding this interaction. Crucially, though, we then need to respond to God, for God’s Amipotence requires creatures to respond (for we cannot be coerced). Can we cultivate that non-sensory perception to respond to God’s invitation? Or, in Oord’s words, “how do we yield to the Spirit’s wooing?” (see comment), particularly when “entities of various complexities may not respond well to Love’s wooing.” (see comment)

Although I appreciate Oord’s discussion of non-sensory perception and its role in terms of being influenced by God, I am curious to see how this form of sense perception influences our senses, or even the possibility of our senses being locations of experiencing and encountering God, alongside non-sensory perception. It appears that much of the literature on religious and spiritual experience does allow for the senses being a location of an experience deemed religious.

There continues to be much written today about the importance of religious and spiritual experiences. For instance, a recent book by Yaden and Newberg argues that spiritual and religious experiences are far more common than assumed and further that they are real. They do, however, suspend judgment as to their cause. Recently, Lisa Miller’s book The Awakened Brain connects spirituality to mental health, but also demonstrates in her own life how these kinds of experiences have “guided” her and helped her make sense of her world. Yaden and Newberg suggest that research indicates that roughly one-third of those who have these kinds of experiences are due to genetic inheritance. However, it also appears that one-third are more likely to have spiritual and religious experiences if they practice certain spiritual and religious practices.

My brief foray into these recent discussions is to link it with Oord’s point about creatures needing to respond to God’s Amipotence. I would like to suggest that there are certain practices and rituals we might engage in, both in our individual lives and churches, to better “yield to the Spirit’s wooing” as Oord suggests.

The question we might ask as Open and Relational ministers, for example, would be: “How do we cultivate an environment in our churches where we provide opportunities for people to encounter God and best discern God’s invitation in their lives?” Even as I write that, I feel a strong urge to qualify that statement with a thousand disclaimers and caveats! There are still uncomfortable questions as to why some might experience God and others not.

Within an Open and Relational framework, however, this has little to do with God. For God is always holding out the best based on God’s priority of love. My hope is that we can begin to press into these questions and practices in a gentle and curious manner, being open without coming up with hard and fast recipes and rules for how this might happen.

The question of religious and spiritual experiences is being raised by recent trials involving psychedelics and mental health. Many report powerful spiritual experiences and processes whereby they are able to discern a new way forward in their life (a response to the Spirit’s wooing?). What about the role of Jungian analysis and meditation as ways to cultivate an openness to the Spirit’s wooing?

More traditionally, how does our music function when we meet together to open us up to the Spirit? What of the role of the contemplative tradition? Are there other practices from different religions that might be useful? Are there “thin” places and spaces that might help us with this, such as a journey on the Camino, or visits to cathedrals or places in nature?

If we assume that God still influences creation and that we ought to respond as Oord suggests, I’m not sure we can avoid these important questions. In addressing them we need to remain curious and gentle as we do so. I think we are aided in this as God’s power, as defined by Oord as Amipotence, reminds us that God is not angry with us but is calling us to participate with God in God’s dream for the world. There is never only one moment and opportunity to respond to God’s love, because each moment and everywhere God is present and offering a new opportunity birthed from God’s love. By re-engaging with spiritual and religious practices, we find ways to open ourselves up to God’s Amipotence.

Bio: Brian Claude Macallan is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Research Coordinator at the University of Divinity, Pilgrim Theological College, and Ministry Leader at HeartWell Church in Melbourne, Australia.

OORD’S DRABBLE* RESPONSE

Brian Macallan explores how we might experience amipotence, especially through the senses. His journey with cancer serves as a powerful test case for understanding divine love and power. He emphasizes the importance of community as a space where God might be encountered. I believe Brian asks important questions. We may experience God indirectly, through sensory engagement with the world. Creation can sometimes cooperate with God in ways that reveal divine presence and action. However, such experiences are not always clear. They require careful discernment and theological imagination, blending what we sense with what we believe about God’s ongoing work.

For more on Oord’s view on divine causation, see this article.

* A drabble is an essay exactly 100 words in length.