Blowing the Lid Off the God-Box: Opening Up to the Limitless Faith

Anne Robertson, a United Methodist minister in New England, writes, 'There are few things more upsetting than a God who refuses to stay put...' Anne Robertson gives a wonderful, personal development of the idea of God being bigger and broader than one can possibly imagine. I've often used the example in my preaching that God is more than any idea we could ever have of God; this is rather difficult for many people to grasp, but Robertson has a wonderful way of exploring this aspect of God. It can be challenging and disconcerting, because it is far from the norm in our everyday, quantifiable and measurable world. The modern world is uncomfortable with ambiguity, and often terrified of the unknown. Speaking of the women who went to the tomb on the first Easter morning, Robertson writes, 'The very thing that frightened the women - the unknown and the unexpected - is that same thing that frightens us today when we consider that God might be larger and more complex than our particular experience of God.' Robertson does her writing in confessional style (this is a literary/theological designation, rather than a penitential or 'just-the-facts, maam' kind of admission of guilt); she goes through her experiences both conservative and liberal, both within and outside the church, and casts her ideas for God's reality and God's presence with us in terms that many readers will find very familiar and easy to relate to. Her central cipher is that of the God-box. A box is a container (even when it is empty). Most of us (if not all of us) have a container of sorts, into which we pour our ideas of what and who God is. Even professional theologians (or perhaps most especially professional systematic theologians) do not escape the trap of trying to define God so precisely as to render God less than who God truly is, and can be. One crucial element Robertson identifies for the God-box is keeping it open in the context of community - what is in the box needs to be valuable and recognised as such by members of the community, and what other community members have in their God-boxes can be shared and used to enrich one's own. Careful not to make community a panacea for all ills, she nonetheless highlights the advantages, and shows the disadvantages of the 'go-it-alone' approach. The book continues with a look at common and uncommon images of God, the way in which we think about God both in scripture and tradition, the use and misuse of institutional religion and community, and finishes with a chapter that develops her device of the God-box in context of creedal statements familiar to many Christians through the centuries. This is a wonderful book to use for private and group study. Well-written and engaging both personally and spiritually, it is uplifting and thought-provoking in many ways.

In her beautifully flowing and extraordinarily insightful first publication, Anne Robertson brings her expansive and Jesus-centered Belief to her readers, challenging us not to allow Faith to become a mere reflection of our own, privatized and sometimes very convenient religious beliefs..or to cut it out if we already have. In beautiful, short chapters, she calls on each of us to allow God to be the One doing the defining. Calling on Scripture, as well as personal and professional experience, she is at once serious and light-hearted, many times using her wonderful gift of "getting to the point" in unique, thought-provoking and often humorous ways. She tackles difficult moral dilemmas and human frailties, and gives us a new, more open way to look at them. She throws the gauntlet down to those who co-op God for their own private advancement, for the "my way or the highway" type of sectioning that modern religions can break down into..leading to personal and sometimes national wars: if both sides fervently believe God is on their side, one side (or both) has placed God in a box. This book will help each person of Faith blow off the lid to see the bigger picture, and help prevent one from closing off to many of God's Creation's wondrous aspects. As she says in discussing the tensions caused by different types of services (organ music; drums and guitars; skits, etc.), "Recognize that your way of worship isn't the sum total of worship itself." The Prelude alone will make your realize you are dealing with a writer and thinker of the first order in Anne Roberston..a fresh, new and most welcome voice in Christian letters. You'll be wanting to continue on immediately! As you proceed, you'll think you can hear God saying, "Finally, someone gets it!" Blowing the Lid off the God-box is a delightful read, and Anne's fervent belief in Love as the basic building block of all existence wafts across the pages like the scents of blossoms in the spring winds. When you finish this book, you'll realize that by offering it, she is telling you she loves the reflection of God in you, too.

This is a book of grace. Robertson writes in an informal, utterly human style. Her confession validates the reader's struggles with the many ways that we place lids on our own God boxes and refuse to inspect the contents of other people's God boxes. I recommend the book for anyone who struggles to reconcile their deeply held instinctive concept of God with the sometimes restrictive messages we get about God from our own worldly view and from the worldly viewpoints of others.

Let me add my voice to what I am certain will be a chorus of praise for Anne Robertson's book, Blowing the Lid Off the God-Box. This is an important book, one which has something to say to any believing Christian, whether new to the faith or a "veteran," liberal or conservative, young or old, clergy or laity. In simple, familiar images, Robertson presents profound truths, and a vision of God (and of our relationship to God) which is certain to deepen the faith of the reader, while increasing his or her awareness of the many ways in which God refuses to be confined to our neat, concise understandings of God. Drawing on illustrations from her own life and from her experience as a pastor, Anne Robertson draws us into a deeper, more profound, more awe-inspiring vision of the richness of God. This is an important book for anyone seeking a deeper experience of God, and it is a book which I would highly recommend.

As I finished reading Blowing the Lid Off the God-Box, I deliberately read slower, not wanting it to end. Reverend Robertson writes with clarity and insight, encouraging readers to look at the beliefs and preferences of others in a way surpassing tolerance. Hopefully my new found understanding will continue. If not, I shall read her book again. Blowing the Lid Off the God-Box will definitely be at the top of my list of gifts to give loved ones this Christmas.