What Is God In?

In Confirmation, we've been talking about the historic creeds of the Christian church--the Nicene Creed, the Apostles' Creed, and so forth, up to the UCC Statement of Faith. We've been taking the time to work through some of the theological concepts that those creeds espouse, especially the tough ones like the trinity, the holy spirit, incarnation, and the like. A couple of Sundays ago, we were asking what God's relationship to the world might be. Is God completely separate from the world? Is the world God? There are lots of ways to conceptualize the relationship.

One of the Confirmation students said he thought that God was in everything and everyone. I told him that he was a panentheist, and he looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. But then I explained that panentheism is the belief that God permeates the world (but distinct from pantheism, which believes that everything IS God). He seemed pretty satisfied to be called such a thing.

One of my favorite songs is an ode to panentheism. I first encountered it at my small Baptist college in the South, oddly enough, and it's stuck with me ever since. The singer, Billy Jonas, has cropped back up in my life lately, since he does a lot of children's music that my 2-year-old loves. But I thought I'd share this panentheistic song, God Is In, and see what reactions people had. Remember: God in your Tupperware, but not the lids, so buy some spares.