Perhaps...

Of the one thing I'm certain of, certitudes litter the circles of hell.

And with certitude I can say for me, God is not worth killing for.

The closest I can come to a certitude about God is that God is...

I can make suggestions about God: God is good, God is great... God is love, God is the persistence of life on earth, the cosmos, the beating of my heart. I can't say anything about God that doesn't acknowledge the mystery that is life as being ultimately just that, mystery.

Even my knowing God doesn't give me the ability to make an all-defining statement about God. It's like the Justice who said of pornography, "I can't define it, I know it when I see it."

Me too. I know God when I see God... from the top of Taos mountain, or in the ancient forests of Appalachia, in the ancient valleys of Scotland's highlands or the California high desert or an Arizona desert in bloom... or in the hummingbird who has nerve to hover right in my face, eyeball to eyeball, or in the spirals of stars, dust and clouds through the telescope, or in the frenetic vibrating image of sperm penetrating egg and the following explosion of cellular divisions under the microscope... or while at sea, in seeing a sky so deep with stars so to take my breath away, or to see in my beloved's eyes a universe of love so deep as to take my breath away... to have my breath taken away seeing fellow pilgrims approach the table and kneel in humility, just to share in each others' brokenness...

Or know God when I feel God... in the embrace of my almost four year old nephew, in the embrace of anyone who wishes... in my dog as he rests his head on my leg while laying down next to me when I pray, in the broken joy of tossing dirt into the grave of a loved one whose suffering is over and in the tears of knowing it will be a while before we again see each other... and in feeling the presence and memories of the dead... or in the thrill of hearing the hawk's cry... in the warmth of the sun on my face on a clear cold winter's day or in feeling summer's wind whipped ocean spray on my face, or in the soft melding of my beloved's lips in mine, kissing again and again, as we drift off to sleep...

I see and feel God in giving... in giving alms... in seeing others realize God in acts of mercy and giving, just for giving's sake.

All these are signs to me and only a few ways to name God.

With certainty though God is, God is, God is...