Looking for God Beyond Language

Words, spoken and written are used to communicate; we use them to connect to one another. With out them it can be difficult to learn about another person, to get to know them, to relate to them. We use them to help us learn about the world around us, the collective observations of the human race recorded, remembered and spread in words. Sometimes it seems that although they open up so much information to us words can also stunt our ability to learn, relate and understand in other ways. We are so reliant on them.

I often find in a lot of churches that learning about God is very restricted to words. The pastor gets up and teaches people about God. It’s a useful thing and a good thing to learn about God in this way, another person’s knowledge is sheared with you to add on to what you already know. My parents both find this way very good. I never have. Often I sit and do my best to focus on the words, but my understanding is next to nothing, the preacher might as well have been speaking a foreign language because I understand little.

I have learnt a lot about God though words. The Bible, prayer and discussions with people who explain things in ways that I understand have taught me much. But words are not the only way. A lot of people learn about God thought music or symbols. For them maybe the music time in church is the way they learn more about God, for others maybe it's the symbols that we sometimes find around churches that teach them the most. For others maybe looking at the world around them teaches them the most. Maybe it’s all of these ways and more.

No matter what way a person learns about God, words are used the most. Perhaps that is what has created the idea of some people that without the words, the Bible, and the teachings of our churches and parents there would not be Christianity. A troublesome idea I have come across put forward by some people is that we only believe in God because of what we are told and taught. But God never has and never will be restricted by words. He created them, but he is not dependent on them, he does not need them to communicate with us. They are simply one of many tools.

God transcends words. A child not yet able to use or understand words is not unreachable by God. God can communicate just fine with them if he wants to. A person who finds language hard to understand and express with does not need words to understand God. Perhaps a person will not be able to read the Bible, perhaps they cannot understand the words of a pastor, perhaps the music in church can overwhelm them and cause a person to shut down, and perhaps they still know God. Before I could talk and before I could organise understanding form those around me I understood that God was real, I understood he was present. It was a very simple concept to me.

All of the patterns that fill up the world, so perfect and beautiful and all tell me about God. It is like the grass and the sky and everything is covered in words about God, but not words like you hear or read. God is everywhere, he fills up the world. For me the patterns in the world, the symbols in a church, the way rain looks as it falls, my niece, and these things teach me the most about God.

I wrote most of this last night. My brain was very clear. The less stressed my head feels the better I can write. My brain is not clear now. It feels muddled and stressed and tiered. One of my favourite saints is St Bernadette she had trouble with talking also. Sometimes my brain scrambles, and sometimes my words go. Talking and words are difficult for me and for her. But God is the same forever.