Making God in our image?

I was reminded afresh today in a rather humorous way of the limitations of human perspective. As I walked through the Fuller campus I gave the customary nod (you know, the one which says "I know you and acknowledge that you are a friend, but I don't have time or energy to chat right now - hey") to a friend and went to walk past her. She called me over to where she and another guy were standing, looking over a wall into a garden. "Do you wanna see a cat?" she asked. Hmmm not really. But I received the gesture. She wanted to include me. "Sure" I said and came over. Yep it was a cat. Thrilling. I looked for what seemed to be a respectable time before turning to continue on my way. Then the other guy spoke:

"You know cats are a real problem in Australia."

"Really?" I said as if I wanted to hear more. I was amused but determined not to show it.

"He's from Australia." our mutual friend warned.

"Yeah, I've got a friend from Australia," the guy continued seeming not to hear her, "and he tells me they're a huge problem. He's from one of the major cities and he says they're everywhere. Apprarently they destroy the crops..."

I was hurting from laughing on the inside but was determined to let him continue, so said nothing.

"Yeah, Australians really hate cats. Its very rare for Australian people to have them as pets. It would be like us having a rat as a pet..."

"Wow." I said. "How bout that."

In case you're wondering, I didn't burst his bubble and I knew that if I opened my mouth he would feel like an idiot. Besides, what would I know? As I walked away from the cat conversation I thought of the impression of Australia that I have created in people's mind with my own comments.

Australia is a place where all customer service people know what they're talking about and you don't have to wait on hold for hours. Australia is a place where people don't sue one another. Australia is a place with a perfect health system where they pay you to reproduce and keep stay at home mums on a salary. Australia is a multicultural country where racism is not an issue and the churches are racially integrated.

Actually, I'm not sure where that country is, but I'd sure like to live there. And that's just the point. If I'm not careful I can create an idealised picture which misrepresents the truth (OK so I'm not flat out dishonest. Most of the statements above are exaggerations reflecting not what I intended to say or actually did say but what I may have inadvertently communicated. I'm just identifying a tendency).

I guess I just wonder how often we do that with God and his church?

If I say that "God is a God of excellence" am I representing him as he desires to be represented or merely projecting my own perfectionism?

If I emphasise that God doesn't judge people but loves all am I really motivated to mine the treasure of the term 'unconditional love' or am I trying to deal with my own sinfulness?

The problem is, if God looks like me, then I'm not likely to be transformed any time soon.

We can do the same with the church. People have asked me over here what the "Australian Church" is like (as if I'd know?!) In my more honest moments I simply say that I don't really know. I know what the SDA church was like in Melbourne 15 years ago. I know CityLife Church fairly well. But sometimes I'll talk about how "denominationalism isn't such a big deal" and make other such statements from instinct which may reflect the true situation and may simply reflect my own wishes for the Church in Australia or anywhere.

If you've bothered to read this far, I hope if nothing else you are amused by the cat story. Perhaps also you could reflect with me on the enormous responsibility we have as Christians to humbly and accurately reflect God as he truly is. The scary thing is that having "our theology sorted out" is only part of the picture since most people will not bother to ask us to explain with our words - they will merely observe our lives.