I might get attacked for sacrilege but I would love to change one word in the classic "Amazing Grace "by John Newton from the line which says, "that saved a wretch like me," and one in Isaac Watts hymn “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed,” the line which says, “Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?” I would like to change the words "wretch" and "worm" to "child". Our spiritual growth is more about maturing in our relationship with God than it is moving from wretchedness to acceptance. I don't believe God ever thought of us as wretches. God did not create us to be wretches but to be God's children participating in a love relationship with God in the midst of the beauty of creation. When we do something wrong, we do not become a wretched sinner -- we are still a beloved child who has done something wrong. God hates sin but still loves the sinner.
Neither are we born a wretch or a worm. Dr. Karen McClintock, author of "Shame - less Lives and Grace - full Congregations" talks about the wrongness of "Worm Theology". Worm theology tells us that the more shame I experience the more glory Jesus receives when He saves me. The lower my self-esteem, the worse I feel about myself, the more likely God is to have mercy on me. Even conservative Dr. James Dobson is quoted as saying about Worm Theology, “That teaching,” writes Dobson of worm theology, “did not come from Scripture.” The triune God -- Parent, Jesus, and Holy Spirit has more than enough glory as they are. They do not need to define me as a shameful worm in order to build a glory ego. God does not desire or need me to feel shame. God loves me and when I am hurting myself God wants to stop me. When I have sin in my life, God wants to cure me. But God never shames me. God does not label me a bad child. Instead God says you are my beloved child, and I want to separate you from the badness that is harming you. "Worm Theology" takes away our intrinsic value as a human being. We find ourselves living in shame, thinking, "How can God or anyone else love someone like me?" I ask, "How can a loving God create us to live as worms?" We are not worthless worms or wretches; we are children of God loved so much that God sacrificed God's Self to save us from our potential demise.
I hope you are enjoying reading my blog and sharing it with others. I am enjoying reading the progressive group of bloggers on "Patheos." I don't agree with everything they write but it is stimulating. I am a pastor at First Christian Church in Carrollton, TX, www.fcccarrollton.org and a member of the Disciples of Christ denomination.
