I have been contemplating God as Love and a God with emotions like anger. It is a deeply unsettling space. So many beautiful theologians throughout history have wrestled at this nexus. I think of one of my favorites, Julian of Norwich, with the famous lines promising that love triumphs – God as ultimate goodness. She writes, “All shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

Despite her words of infinite comfort, I am troubled by the years of violence enacted in the name of God. I am deeply troubled by bloodshed committed or enacted on behalf of God. The story of God sending snakes to bite the ungrateful is haunting and harrowing. The story of the church throughout the ages harming others is untenable. 

As I pray, I imagine how difficult emotions can be. God having emotion is a challenging concept. Yet scripture says God does have emotion. Without emotions such as passion and suffering, there is no love. 

Consider this quote from a German theologian.

“A God who cannot suffer is poorer than any man. For a God who is incapable of suffering is a being who cannot be involved. Suffering and injustice do not affect him. Yet the one who is not affected is not involved. But the one who is not involved is not love.”

Love is attention and attention is involvement—God—deeply connected to the fabric of our lives—a suffering God who is Love. 

I imagine Love gazing at me with mercy and the kindest affection. I also imagine that my unloving actions deeply grieve a loving God. This is a powerful intersection of both wisdom and humility. Which image of God do I have the hardest time accepting and why? What message of deepest love is God speaking to me today?

“For I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have drawn you with loving kindness.”
– Jeremiah 31:3