God Among Us
April 20, 2015 twhite 0 Comments
If you have eyes to see, you can see God all over the place – touching people’s lives, in life situations, indeed all around us.
It reminds me of Jesus with his first disciples as he sent them out into the community. You can find this story in Luke 10: 1-9.
In essence what Jesus said to them was: when you come into a neighborhood hang out with the people you meet – drink a cup of coffee, eat with them, listen to them, help them out in ways that you can, and let them know that God’s kingdom or God’s presence has come near to them.
That’s a radical message that I think is best heard in the neighborhood – places like Panera, Starbucks, local coffee shops and restaurants, bars and taverns – places where people hang out in the neighborhood.
God is among us – though we do not always notice that God is hanging with us – and there to bring strength and healing to our lives.
We’ve thought in our culture that God is only to be found in churches, synagogues or mosques, but as we discover in Luke 10, Jesus did not send his disciples to synagogues or the Temple, but he sent them out to be among where people hang out during the way – in their places of work, where they connect with others, where they live life.
I have come to discover that is where I best see God as well.
When I pastored a church, often holed up in my office, I had a hard time seeing God, experiencing God. But when I was in a place like Panera, like where I am now writing this blog post, being amidst people living their lives, eating lunch, talking with one another, I get the strong sense that this is where God is hanging out as well.
As a community pastor, this is where I’d rather be – among the people in my neighborhood – because this it seems where God would rather be. As I make myself available to people to walk alongside with them, listening to their lives, their hopes, dreams, their longings and struggles, I find myself eating and drinking coffee with people whom I am growing in relationship – where we are sharing our lives with one another. And in the midst of this, without a hidden agenda, without trying to sell them something, I am led to honestly express, “the presence of God is here with us,” – God is here with us.
I find no greater joy in life, than being one who comes alongside others to help them see God coming alongside them, seeking to walk with them in their daily lives. God is all around us and God seeks us to live lives of meaning and purpose – to come out of our struggles, to live with hope, with joy – and that happens more and more as we discover God, not segregated to Sundays, but in the midst of our lives as we go about doing and living as we normally do.
I keep discovering as I engage people in public places, that God is best discovered, seen and experienced in the day to day going-ons of our lives. Indeed, if we have eyes to see, to notice, God is with us and God’s kingdom, God’s presence has come near to us.
My prayer is that you might have eyes to see God sitting with you, walking with you in all that you experience in life.
Peace,
Roland