Who is God?

Scripture: Genesis 1:1-5, 26-27, Exodus 3:1-14

Who is God? Take-home questions

March 17, 2019, Second Sunday in Lent

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1-2

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46: 1 & 10

God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ And said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I am has sent me to you.” Exodus 3:14

Who is God?
Who first taught you about God?

What was your understanding?

What were your first images of God? Feel free to draw or write.

How have these images and understanding been helpful? How have they been unhelpful?

The Bible has many ways of describing God:

• as Creator (Genesis 1 & 2), as a friend of the family (stories of the families in Genesis),
• as liberator and lawgiver (Exodus), as Savior, Ethicist, Healer, one Great Love (Gospels),
• as a Spirit that connects us all (John 3, Acts 2),as light (1 John 1:5), as love (1 John 4:16),
• as a mother (Psalm 131:2, Isaiah 49:15, 66:13)
• and as mother animals (Hosea 13:8, Deuteronomy 32:11-12, Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34)

What ways are helpful for you to think about God? Why?

Your evolving notion of God
What events, influences, or people helped shape and re-shape your perception of who God is?

What key moments or experiences throughout your life have helped to broaden your understanding and deepen your relationship with God?

and/or
How would you like to expand or deepen your image of God?

Exercises to try this week
If you were going to teach a child or an alien being to planet Earth about God, how would you do it?

What would you include? What would you exclude?

What questions would you ask them?

God moments
What would be the qualities of a “God moment” for you, times when you see God at work in the world around you?

At the end of each day, record 1-3 times when you noticed God at work in your daily life.

Try talking to God every day, as honestly and directly as possible.

Write a letter to God expressing any doubts, worries, fears, hopes, joys.

Then write a letter back to yourself, imagining how God would respond to you.

Download the take-home questions here.

Download the accompanying Lenten Study curriculum packet here.