It’s time for class to begin. You troop in with the rest of your classmates, you get out your notebook and pencil, and you look up front where your teacher stands ready to get started. “All right, class,” she says, “let’s review. What have we learned so far about Benjamin Franklin?”

Remember those days? Some of us here this morning are still students, so this scenario is all too familiar. For most of us, though, being asked to review what we’ve learned is something that doesn’t happen much anymore. But this morning, that’s how I want to begin my sermon. What are the metaphors we’ve used to describe God?

The answers? God is like a name, a potter, a parent, fire, a comforter, a face.

As I reviewed this list myself, I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before.  In nearly all of those words for G…