Where Everything Comes Round Again

Brian McLaren  author of The Secret Message of Jesus : Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything, and A Generous Orthodoxy and, and, and…many other books recently received the following criticism :

Somehow you have fallen in a pernicious anthropocentric gospel that won't prevail. Use your time wisely, read your bible. God's stories will replace your messed up worldview. God loves you with immeasurable love, but he wants to whisper His Absolute Truth through your dusty bible. Read it brother read it.

To which Mclaren responded with his familiar generosity, thanked the critic for his concern and for his prayers.  And then Mclaren wrote the following

It would be interesting to know why you think this is man-centered - I actually see it as God-centered. But because God is not self-centered, when we center on God, God asks us to join God in caring for others. So, the gospel of the kingdom of God teaches us to join God in looking beyond our individual well-being to the good of our neighbor, stranger, and even our enemy.

And I was struck by the idea that God himself is not Theo-centric.  That is, God is not self-centered. God is not a narcissist.  God is looking outward from himself… to us.

So we look towards God and see God looking at us.

We look towards God and see God looking at us looking at God.

We look towards God and see God looking at us looking at God looking at us looking at God looking at us looking at God looking at us looking at God looking at us looking at God looking at us looking at God looking at us looking at God looking at us looking at God looking at us looking at God looking at us looking at God looking at us looking at…

God is an infinite sphere, the center of which is everywhere, the circumference nowhere.Hermes Trismegistus 

If it be true that God is a circle whose

centre is everywhere, the saint goes to

the centre, the poet and artist to the

ring where everything comes round again.

-William Butler Yeats