By Adam Segulah Sher
There are so many books about God, so one might wonder why there are so few books by God. Why should revelation have ceased some hundreds or even thousands of years in the past? According to Michael Kagan, God has much to say to us today. Perhaps the voice of God never fell silent, but we've failed to listen. Reading God's Prayer, it's easy to imagine why we find it so difficult to hear God's message for us. Yes, the language is eloquent and moving, even poetic in it's evocative imagery and sensuous cadence. Yes, God's insight into our current planetary situation is enlightening, and yes, God's understanding of the root of our religious impulse and it's expression in diverse cultural forms is penetrative and insightful. We would expect as much. But God's rebuke and stern reprimand, God's vision of the horrors we face, God's ruthless exposure of our human weakness - is all but too much to bear. And though there are touching passages of love and kindness and encouragement throughout this book, as a whole it is a bitter pill to swallow. Should it be anything else? Would we want God to sugar-coat the extent of our peril? Ultimately, God's Prayer is that we listen to God's voice, to God's message for all of us. In the end, we are the ones who answer God's prayer with our ears to hear and open hearts - and that may be the greatest revelation of all.
