People of faith always want to see God in their life and recognize God at work in the world. Certainly scripture affirms God’s presence in our life and that God is at work in the world. Yet how often do we fail to see or even sense God’s presence and handiwork?
Maybe we ought to ask ourselves what we expect to see. Do we expect grand and glorious activity that is hard to miss? Do we expect something more mundane like a neighbor bringing by a bowl of hot chicken noodle soup when we are ill? God may indeed be at work in these and similar gestures of kindness and care.
As I write this Hurricane Sally is wreaking havoc on the Gulf Coast while fires rage in the West Coast and elsewhere. Many fellow Christians see this as some act of judgement by God. “See! God is at work here”, we are told. Why do we only expect to see God at work in such great and horrific events? For what kind of angry, vindictive God must we be searching? Is this view consistent with the Jesus whom we see in the Gospels? When we have a certain expectation of how God acts, we tend to see only this God.
Yet what I have seen most often is if we want to miss God, then we are fooling ourselves into thinking we know exactly what we are looking for, we will no doubt miss God when we know exactly what we are looking for. Israel was looking for a king with armies. Many of them missed God. On the other hands lowly shepherds didn’t really know what to look for, but recognized the Messiah when they saw him. People of faith thinking they knew exactly what to look for, missed the Messiah and the star, while pagan Wise Men who hadn’t a clue knew someone and something special when they saw it. Yes, if you want to miss God, know exactly what you are looking for.
Jesus calls us to places that are new and often strange to us and to people with whom we normally do not associate. The one who ate with tax collectors and sinners, the one who brought healing to foreigners and people of different faiths, calls us to imitate him in our following. To what strange places and to what very different people have you gone in your life because of Jesus ? Often these are not where or among who we expect to find God. Yet, there God is…exactly where we do not expect to find God. Imagine of the church is where everyone is safe, but all are uncomfortable.
Throughout my ministry I have always been part of ecumenical Christian groups. Many were quite different than me and us. Yet at times I caught a glimpse of God in these groups and in these people. I also noticed these experiences made me more Lutheran.
Here at ASU and in Tempe we have interfaith groups: LDS, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Bahai, and all walks of Christianity. We visit their places of worship, host them in our Campus Center, speak at some of their events and have some of them speak at our events. Again, I have seen God at work and I have seen my Christianity sharpened.
We don’t expect that. We are often too trapped in our own blinders knowing exactly what we seek and what we expect. God can come to those with blinders. But how much greater God can appear when we remove them and open our vision fully, no knowing what to expect. I have to keep reminding myself, God does not always play by our rules or our conventions. That is in part what makes God, God.