Dash of Thought December 2025

Don't think too small about God
We walked through this impressive gate of the Warsaw Barbican at the end of November on the occasion of a meeting of the Executive Committee of The United Methodist Church in Central and Southern Europe. A mighty gate! It reminded me of verse 7 from Psalm 24: "Open wide, you gates; open up, you ancient doors. Then the King of glory will come in."
Psalm 24 with its three parts was originally part of the entry liturgy of the temple service. God is solemnly announced in his majesty and splendor. This is made clear by the dignified language, which sounds different from the intimate language of the heart that we encounter in Psalm 23, for example.
Psalm 24 sings of the wonder that God in his incomprehensible greatness wants to move into our narrow and dark circumstances:
The earth belongs to the Lord! (v1-2) God comes as Creator and Owner in world-encompassing sovereignty. Where he appears, we cannot claim ownership and dominion - neither over people nor over the earth with everything that is in it.
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? (v3-6) His arrival - in other words: his Advent - sets clear standards. Those who want to experience the blessing (v5) for their lives are asked to take responsibility for their actions and intentions. This is not about earning God's blessing through performance, but about the question of our trust in God and our willingness to do his will.
And finally: Open wide, you gates! (v7-10) You cannot think God big enough. When he comes, it will transcend all dimensions. Actually, the impossible would have to happen: The dimensions of the temple, like those of our hearts, would have to expand immeasurably in order for the Creator to move into creation.
It is good for our faith to be reminded of the greatness of God at the beginning of a new church year, especially in the run-up to Christmas with its danger of trivializing and playing down God. The fact that God makes himself small, that he becomes human in Jesus, comes very close to us and fits into our circumstances in order to straighten them out and make them wider, can only become a miracle for us if we first perceive his incomprehensible greatness and the distance between us and him, which is insurmountable for us humans.
 
I wish everyone the experience of this miracle in these weeks of Advent and Christmas!
 
Bishop Stefan Zürcher
 
 
Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barbakan_3_Warszawa.jpg?uselang=de