HERE ARE 

SOME CRAYONS!  

DRAW GOD  

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 7^th Monday after Easter  is, “Here Are Some Crayons! Draw God.”

If we hand kids some paper and some crayons and we ask them to draw God - we might get some very interesting drawings and images.

Then when we ask kids to explain their drawings - it’s even more interesting. They will give us their take on God - how life works - from their perspective, etc.

An important as well as a wonderful book to read is, The Spiritual Life of Children by Robert Coles. As a psychiatrist and professor at Harvard, he has done lots of research on what's going on in the lives of children - and he uses drawings for poignant observations.

If you watch TV, I’m sure you’ve seen the whole series of ATandT commercials about “It’s not complicated.” A guy is sitting at a table and he asks some kids a question and it goes from there.

Then each time it ends with the statement, “It’s not complicated.”

The title of my homily is, “Here Are Some Crayons! Draw God.”

GOD IS COMPLICATED - AND - GOD IS SIMPLE

When it comes to understanding God - the best answer seems to be, “God is both complicated and simple.”

The scriptures give us lots of images and pictures of God. 

God is a voice. God is a Creator. God is Someone Who Doesn’t Like to Be Alone, God is a Fortress. God is a Father. God is a Mother. God is a Spouse. God is a Shepherd. God is Thunder - Lightning. God is also a soft whisper of a breeze. God is a King. God is the great I AM.

The authors of these images are not around to explain themselves. I hold that there are people around today who have those same images of God. Listen to them

If we bring in the New Testament, we have Jesus constantly talking about God His Father - Our Father. That’s simple. We know what a good Father - as well as what a Good Shepherd is like.

If we start to listen to Jesus describing Got His Father - as well as the Spirit - it gets complicated.

For some it’s tough enough believing in God - than to accept that Jesus is God. It took the church a couple of hundred years to hammer out formulas - the Creeds - on how to state who God is.

The big heresies of the Early Church tell me that God is complicated.

To say God is 3 persons - but 1 God. To say that are 3 persons are different - but also they are Equal and One God. That’s not simple. That’s complicated.

Then we have the history of the Church - as well as various other religions and their drawings on God.

This can really complicate God big time - as well as statements by some that they claim is God talking - and they know God’s thoughts.

KATAPHATIC AND APOPHATIC APPROACHES TO GOD

Let me use two technical theological terms  I use from time to time. If I use them enough at these 12:10 Masses you’ll be familiar with them. They are the words: kataphatic and apophatic.

Kataphatic means using images and pictures to describe God - whether with paint or sculpture or crayon.

Apophatic means no images - because any image of God is obviously incomplete - inadequate - and can be subject to idolatry.

I don’t know about you - but I have learned that both ways can be helpful. The Divine Dark approach can help. That’s the Jewish urge at times - as in the practice of not using God’s name. Then there is the  Islamic approach - that you can’t imagine God in picture.

You probably have heard about the Iconoclasts - who destroy images and ikons because they think people use them as magic to try to manipulate God.

CONCLUSION

So crayons are good - simplicity is good - but at times complexity and becoming quiet is also helpful.

So someone might hand you a box of crayons  and tell you to draw a picture of God. Sometimes it's good to be like a little kid again and draw, draw, draw.

Sometimes an image of God or Christ or the Holy Spirit that you draw can be helpful. 

Sometimes you can hand back an empty canvas - and relax. 

Sometimes silence and nothingness - just being there is as good as a drawing. 

Your move.

[Here's a picture I found on line of an assortment of early Binney and Smith crayon boxes.]

Book Quoted: Robert Coles, The Spiritual Life of Chidren, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1990