One of the several issues that Ruth and I "fight about (lol )" is change. Every now and then she likes to make changes in the house. Or, she might alter the plans we had about going somewhere, and change to something else midstream as we are headed there. I don't always feel comfortable with her "changing the batting order," unless there is a compelling reason. I have to confess that nine out of ten times, the changes are for the better in spite of my initial opposition.
I tend to see change as a sign of instability. One moment the person wants this, and the next moment they want that. It drives me crazy. I am more inclined towards being rooted and stable unless there is, in my opinion, a need for change. In the years of my pastoral experience in Rochester, New York, I witnessed members of our church and others in the community moving from one place to another "on the spur of the moment." I asked myself "How can people makes these decisions without weighting the subsequent impact on other members of the family, especially the smaller children?" I know that there are external factors besides people's volition that contribute to their being "on the move," but it is still unnerving.
But now, we have a real problem. When we read then Scriptures, we find that God is also "on the move." God migrates with people from place to place. Is that a sign of God being unstable? Let's explore that.
We are informed in Scripture that when humankind fell into sin, that they were expelled from the mythological Garden of Eden (no offense intended to my sisters and brothers who take a literal approach to Scripture and who may be offended by my use of the worth "mythological"). It would appear, that whether we take the stories as literally true or as legend and myth, that God goes through a process of self-eviction out of the Garden and moves with humankind wherever they move. Even in the story of the rebellious attempt to construct a tower (Tower of Babel), we find God intervening by descending to thwart the plan of the rebels. And then we find God migrating with Abraham and his offspring into Canaan, Egypt, back to Canaan, Babylon, back to Palestine, etc. We ask "Why does God migrate so much?" Does God get tired of being in one place? Is God "illegal" and "undocumented?" Is God unstable? Why does this notion of a God "on the move" upset our view of a static and unchanging God? Aren't we informed in Scripture that God is "never-changing?"
A school of thought known as Process Theology informs us that God is constantly evolving with nature and the universe. In other words, God is involved the process of change and motion. In that process, God allures the creation to Herself/Himself. God is not considered to be static, stale and/or "stuck in one place." In Process Theology, God is in all things and moves with all things.
In Scripture, God's migration is related to the migration of the people. The migration is generated by many factors, i.e. corporate disobedience and sin, imperialism and land-grabbing colonization leading to uprooting and forced migration, etc. Human migration is not merely volitional. It is generated by different factors such as economic survival, fleeing from persecution, the search for settling down and stability, etc. God's migration is in solidarity with the people who suffer because of forced migration. God's migration is one of "hearing the cry of the people and descending to aid them." God's migration is an affirmation of hope and assurance that God is in the process. God's migration is also an assurance that God not only sympathizes, but also empathizes with the suffering community. God suffers along with them and is moving history in the direction of the eradication of suffering. Thanks be to God who gives us this message which inspires us to keep hope alive while we are migrating. God is not unstable. God is "on the move" at every moment of our lives.
In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen!
Dr. Juan A. Carmona
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