The Will of God

Our last gathering with the spirited and opinionated senior high youth at church was right after Virginia Tech. It was also right after we had experienced a storm and many had lost power, among other things. It was the worst storm since 1998. So, our conversation on this afternoon with youth was about disaster. The conversation took some interesting turns that surprised me (and delighted me). I wish I could remember the details to share them with you now. But, my brain remembers the looks on the kids faces, not as much the words out of their mouths. Curses! It's one problem of being a visual learner and rarely taking notes.

This week, we will be talking about the will of God because that was where our conversation lead. One of my faithful youth quoted that famous prayer, "thy will be done." I hate when these words are used in this way. Perhaps I am too much of a control freak. Or perhaps I believe too strongly that we co-create with God. Or perhaps I'm just really, really stubborn. It remains to be seen.

I think I will start our conversation (which never starts with the Bible because they resist it) with the Letter to the Romans. I'm a Scripture kinda gal. I need it. So, we're going to start here. And one of my charming friends pushed me into the scary and uncertain territory of the Pauline epistles. So, here we go with Romans 9.14: "What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!"

But, I can't decide. Does it not matter about human will or exertion, as much as the mercy of God? Is it that we are more concerned about what we SHOULD do rather than our actual actions? Will is separate from our own actions -- from what we actually do. These are actually more the words of my charming friend that pushed Paul upon me. I am the clay arguing with the potter right now.

I wish that I could actually finish these details on Thursday so that I might have two days off. But, no, I will ponder this all weekend. Any ideas?