Nougat 26

How do we greet or refer to God in the privacy of our lives? And if someone overhears us, what truths will they grasp about our relationship. May Jeremiah’s prayer in today’s Holy Nougat serve to challenge, encourage and inspire our reflection.

““O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭32‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

There’s been considerable debate in some theological circles on how to refer to God using ‘human’ descriptors. These are not to be understood as random, ‘there they go again’ conversations intended to convey academic ineptitude or heretical behavior; rather the discourse should be seen as the way in which we search for God, and by extension our ‘truth’, in the face of life’s challenges.

One of these was framed around the decolonization of church – a much-needed conversation in our time. The debate poses a challenge for me, and with others I’m sure, as we try to discern referencing while reverencing God. This, as some scholars have presented an argument for taking the dominion sting out of biblical literature, and by extension, from our references to God. I get it. I really do. My challenge arises when I need to balance reference with reverence. For while correcting the sins of the past is critical to me, ultimately reverence for God is paramount.

And two of the terms that land in this debate are ‘sovereignty’ and ‘lordship’. As an nth generation descendant of former slaves, I agree that both sovereignty and lordship carry heavy connotations of domination and even abuse. Yet, to remove the sense of ‘most-ness’ from God’s Godness also serves to diminish God’s holiness.

A sovereign is the highest ruler of a country/empire (and yes, I concur that imperialism is one of the worst forms of abusive and dehumanizing conditions in the world). In some cases, the sovereign is regarded as the ‘ultimate’ ruler. Referencing God as sovereign is thus one of the highest titles and thus the highest honors to accord God. It’s a form of good reverence.

Isaiah 66:1 refers to Heaven as God’s throne and earth as God’s footstool, which implies that Heaven is a sovereignty as well as a household. Jesus builds on this principle in John 14:2, by stating that there are many mansions in His father’s House. This matters when we speak about lordship. For, a lord has dominion over one or a few estates/houses. Yet we tend to encourage the use of ‘Lord’ in reference to our Deity, Jesus Christ. Again we focus on the positionality – over every lord, there’s Jesus.

And Lord in Hebrew points to the existing theocratic approach to leadership that predates Judaism. The difference being – Judaism accorded that status to an unseen god, not a human. In an era when all kings were gods in the sight of their people; God offered a counter-cultural alternative: a God far more mighty, holy, protective and present than the pharaohs of the day. A God Who never dies. An available God both day and night.

Thus Jeremiah’s reverential reference to God as Sovereign Lord is attesting to names of God that carried the weight of God’s nature – YHWH and Adonai. YHWH: The One Who Self-revealed to Moses before releasing the Children of Israel out of 400+ years of bondage. Adonai: Abraham’s reference to God when negotiating, when conversing directly with God.

For sure, there are practices worth examining and perhaps removing from our spiritual lives. But I agree with the psalmist in Psalm 29: let’s give unto the Lord the glory due to God’s name! Sovereign Lord, to You be all glory and honor. Blessed is Your name forever and ever amen

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May all we seek be found in Christ