God of Love or God of Vengeance?

Each morning, I do a morning devotional on my Florida church's Facebook page; I call it Morning Watch.  I begin by reading the day's Bible passages from Phyllis Tickle's The Divine Hours, we take 5-7 minutes for creativity and/or contemplation, I pray the closing prayer out loud and offer some closing thoughts.  It takes about 10-15 minutes altogether.

I've been doing this activity since the end of March, 2020.  I set it up to begin at 5:30 a.m., and it's live.  At the time I set it up, I envisioned going back to spin class each morning and wanted to figure out how to offer devotional time and still get to spin class.  I didn't realize I would never go to that particular spin class again; although the gym survived the pandemic, the spin class time slot did not.

I have found this morning watch practice very nourishing.  There are 5 people who tune in regularly each week, and others who come and go.  But even if no one tuned in, I would still be willing to do it for me; indeed, I did do a variation of this practice for years, although it wasn't broadcast.  When I first started doing it, back in 2005, there wasn't an easy way to broadcast without better equipment than I had.

This morning, I suggested a resolution for 2024.  What if we behaved like God was our biggest supporter?  What if we moved away from the idea that God is disappointed with us?  Would our behavior change?  Would we feel emboldened?

People who know me know that this approach isn't new to me, meaning both that I am not the first to think about the idea, and I've been working on changing my view of God for years now.  I do think that many of us internalize God as the voice of an angry parent who is always so deeply disappointed in us.  As I read the Bible, I see where people have come to believe that idea, but I think it comes more from some of the letters in the New Testament (or Old Testament passages) than from what Jesus tells us.

Of course, I'm also aware of some of the passages where Jesus seems to tell us of the Creator's disappointment in us all.  I am also aware that I might be wrong about God's deep and abundant love for creation.

But I see more evidence for a Creator that is a deep wellspring of love for creation than I do evidence of a vengeful God.  That's the only Good News I can preach.