Dear Hyde Park Family,

In 1952, Encyclopedia Britannica published one of the most ambitious publishing projects in the 20^th Century. It put out a series of 52-volumes called The Great Books of the Western World. Every important work from Western Civilization is in there, from Anselm and Aquinas to William Shakespeare to Sigmund Freud.

The first two of those 52 volumes are just the index, which categorizes these thousands of works along various topics. Turn to the topic of nature, for example, and you’ll see a list of entries from the Great Books that talk about them. Turn to the topic of wisdom, and you’ll see what Plato said about it, or what Mark Twain said about it.

And what do you suppose is the longest entry in the entire index? The one subject that more authors in Western Civilization said something about than another topic?

God.

Mortimer Adler, the great philosopher and editor of this majestic set of volumes, was once interviewed by Larry King. King asked him, “Why is the topic of God the one that is most addressed throughout western history?”

His response: “Because our consequences for life follow from that one issue than any other issue you can think of.”

What a simple answer to a big question. The way we understand God has more consequences for life than any other subject. It impacts how you speak. How you see others. Whom you love, and whom you despise. How you apportion your energies and how you spend your money. Every other subject is a mere footnote to the ultimate question of who God is.

This Sunday we continue our worship series “Hard to Believe” with a deeper exploration of the nature and character of God. In particular, we will think about these three classic descriptors of God: Omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (in all places), and omnipotent (all-powerful). Each of these convictions is not without complexity or complication, but each offers a distinct way to experience God personally.

Join us Sunday, with your curiosity and your questions, as we ponder who God is, and the consequences of those answers for our lives.

Grace and Peace,