God Is Relational (Open and Relational Theology: Part 3)
The God Who Weeps, Waits, and Walks With Us
God Is Relational
Open and Relational Theology: Part 3
The God Who Weeps, Waits, and Walks With Us
TL;DR: Open and Relational Theology invites us to imagine a God who is not untouched by our suffering but deeply moved by it. A God who weeps when we weep, who waits with us in uncertainty, and who walks with us through joy and sorrow. Not because God has to - but because that’s who Love is.
A God Who Comes Close
I used to believe God was “above it all.”
Unchanging.
Unmoved.
Unaffected.
That kind of God felt safe, at least on paper.
But in practice, that God felt… absent.
When I was diagnosed with cancer…
When I sat in hospital rooms with unanswered prayers…
When all I had were tears…
I didn’t need a God who watched.
I needed a God who wept.
A Relationship That Goes Both Ways
Open and Relational Theology has given me permission to believe something I already knew in my bones:
That God is not unmoved.
God is relational.
God is involved.
Not as a puppet master.
Not as a silent spectator.
But as a co-sufferer, co-celebrator, co-creator.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples:
“I no longer call you servants… I call you friends.” (John 15:15)
Friends. Not followers of a distant deity.
But partners in a relationship that goes both ways.
Not a Machine, but a Mystery of Love
I used to think God’s “perfection” meant detachment.
That to be perfect was to be unchanged, unaffected, always above emotion.
But what if God’s perfection is love?
And what if love always feels?
A God who grieves.
A God who rejoices.
A God whose heart breaks for injustice.
A God who actually hears our prayers,
Not just as input to a system,
But as the cries of someone they love.
A God Who Receives
Relational love is mutual.
God doesn’t just act upon us.
God receives us.
Our tears.
Our confusion.
Our anger.
Our awe.
God doesn’t just tolerate our emotions.
God feels with us - without shame, without defense, without distance.
Theologians sometimes get uncomfortable with this idea.
But I don’t think Jesus did.
A Story That Changed Me
I still remember the moment Jesus wept at Lazarus’ tomb.
Not because he didn’t know resurrection was coming,
But because love doesn’t skip over pain.
Jesus didn’t say, “It’s all going according to plan.”
He wept.
And in that weeping,
I found the kind of God I could trust.
That story has stayed with me.
And it’s reshaped how I trust God in the unknown.
A Humble Trust
I still have questions.
I still get things wrong.
I still wrestle with mystery.
Some say a God who feels is too weak.
That a relational God sounds too human.
But I think Jesus shows us the opposite.
As theologian
writes,“God gives and receives in relationship, and is deeply moved by what happens in the world.”
That doesn’t make God fragile,
it makes God faithful.
The God who weeps with us is not lesser.
This is Love with skin on.
And that’s the kind of God I trust.
I’ve learned that not knowing everything doesn’t disqualify faith—
Sometimes it deepens it.
I trust a God who walks with us in the wondering.
A God who doesn’t demand certainty from us,
But invites us into relationship.
Into healing.
Into love.
What I’m Beginning to Believe
God is not far away.
God is with us.
And not in theory, but in presence.
In suffering.
In celebration.
In silence.
God doesn’t just know us,
God shares life with us.
Weeps with us.
Waits with us.
Walks with us.
This is not control.
This is Love.
“God’s power is the power of love, not the power of coercion.” - Thomas Jay Oord
The Sacred Practice of Reflecting
When have you felt most “seen” or “heard” by God?
How does your relationship with God feel different when you imagine it as mutual?
What parts of your life do you find hard to believe God truly shares in?
Blessing
May you know the nearness
Of a God who feels what you feel.
Not far off,
But breathing beside you.May you come to trust
Not just in God’s strength,
But in God’s tenderness.And may you walk today
Not as a servant earning love,
But as a friend, already held in it.
Amen.
Is being emotional part of being made in GOD’s image?