EP 3: SPIRITUAL VERTIGO

In this episode, Christine shares a creative reflection on the disorienting nature of divine grace and how we can’t help but paint God and the world with our own broken brushes. Detangling myth from veracity and tradition from truth can feel a little bit like the ground is shifting beneath our feet, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Once we separate God from our own misconceptions and stop trying to confine him to our own categories, he is bound to surprise us, guaranteed to challenge us, and certain to change us.

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We’ve highlighted some key points from this episode below. Feel free to share these on your blogs/feeds with proper attribution to the writer/speaker/podcast. Or stay tuned—we will be posting several of these verses and quotes, along with clips from this episode, on our IG page and you can save/share from there.

Scripture

Isaiah 55:9:
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody comes to the father except through me.” -Jesus

Job 38:4-7:
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?”

Isaiah 55:12:
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.

John 18:36: “My kingdom is not of this world… my kingdom is not from here.” -Jesus

Quotes

C.S. Lewis:

“Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. How many hours are in a mile? Is yellow square or round? Probably half the questions we ask – half our great theological and metaphysical problems – are like that.”

Christine Chandler Prater

“We can’t help but paint the world with our own broken brushes. And as true as a portrait seems to us, it is impossible for us to paint a perfect picture. Because we all have our preferences, they color all our perceptions. Even—and maybe especially—when it comes to God.”

“God doesn’t mind our questions, y’all. But sometimes I wonder if we are asking the right ones. And if we are not asking the right questions, it is any wonder that we are arriving at incomplete answers?”

“When we try to force the tension out of the tough questions or squeeze the nuance out of the complex answers, we end up with rules that are legalistic instead of lives that are characteristic of the God we claim to follow.“

“We are made in the image of God—by the hand of God—for the purpose of seeking his face, his will, his kingdom, and bringing him glory.

“Once we untangle God from our own misconceptions and stop trying to confine him to our own categories… once we believe God is who he says he is… he is bound to surprise us, guaranteed to challenge us, and certain to change us.”

Creativity

Resources

• Take The Holy Shift Quiz
• Buy a Bible
• BibleHub
• The Kingdom of God on BibleProject
• DWELL Bible App
• How God Became King

Connections

Questions or comments about this episode? Contact Christine here or leave a comment below.