Where Do You See God?

Hi, friends, and welcome to the Weekly Dulin Podcast, a brief weekly reflection from Dulin United Methodist Church in Falls Church. Here, we take time to think together about faith, community, and what it means to live as disciples of Jesus in today's world.

Hello, Dulin Church. It's me, James Henry, your pastor. So good to be with you once again for another Dulin Weekly Podcast and Dulin Weekly Moment. I'm so glad you're joining me for these, and I appreciate the feedback. You're certainly always welcome to request if you have a specific topic you'd like me to talk about that has to do with our everyday faith and how we can live it out.

But until I get those kinds of requests, I guess I will see what arises on a particular day and what seems to be calling out to me. So in this particular episode, what I'd like to talk to you about is where we see God. Where do you see God? So often we ask where is God? You know, in the middle of the worst possible moments, when we see so much divisiveness and brokenness in the world, we end up wondering about all this fragmentation and asking the question, where is God?

So where should we look for God? Where should we experience God? And maybe we should drop that word should because you can look for God anywhere. I remember a song back from the eighties, long before some of you were born, looking for love in all the wrong places. And maybe we could look for God in all the wrong places.

Although since God is everywhere, we will encounter God in all those places that we look. Perhaps the question isn't where is God? But why aren't we seeing God in the places that we go? Is it because we've trained ourselves or been trained not to see God in those places? Perhaps when we're in traffic on the road, we are so busy and high strung by anxiety and the frustration perhaps of heavy traffic that we don't realize that right there in that moment, in our moments of greatest frustration and anger and struggle and anxiety, in those moments, there God is.

God is with us in those moments. Perhaps even closer, at least that's been my experience, because we actually need or rely on God more in those moments. What about when we're taking a walk in the neighborhood, if you do that? Where are some places you might see God? There you've trained to see sidewalk and concrete.

You've trained to see the asphalt and to wave at neighbors perhaps to avoid being in traffic when you're taking that walk. But have you noticed the flowers when you take a walk? And remember the origin of those flowers where they came from. They are a gift from God to us. They add beauty to our lives.

And beauty is not superfluous to our lives. It's not just icing on the cake. I think it's part of what makes us fully human is to experience beauty in our everyday lives. So we catch a glimpse of those flowers and the colors. And sometimes the color of children's chalk painted on the sidewalks in our neighborhood Or other kinds of things.

We pass a sidewalk that's cracked and the strength of life has pushed its way up through there. Might only be a dandelion, it seems to thrive in spite of the fact that's a place where concrete told it no, and it said yes. I mean, there are so many lessons that life wants to teach us and wants to give us in terms of opportunities about encountering God in those places. Sometimes it's in that still small place. We might encounter God while sitting quietly in a chair and just being attentive to our breath.

It's one of the easiest way to calm ourselves down in the midst of anxiety and pressure in the world stress is to bring our attention back to our breath and just breathe with intention. Slow it down a little bit. Breathe. Be present. Be there.

Because one of the ways that we understand God is as spirit. And since we've studied that all together for a period of time in our various conversations, Aramaic and the Hebrew word, quite frankly, I think the Greek word as well that refers to spirit also refers to breath and wind. In Aramaic, it's definitely air as well. So when you're breathing the air, are you breathing the spirit? Is the spirit all around you?

Can you be attentive to that? Imagine that the spirit is filling you and that as the spirit fills you and is shaped by your lungs, by your gifts, you breathe it back into the world and it makes a difference. Where is God? God is everywhere you are. God is everywhere I am.

God's everywhere we're not. God is with people who are struggling. Maybe that's you, maybe that's me today. But God is struggle is with people who are struggling. God is people who are joyous.

God is with people who see the world differently than we do. The hardest part for us to recognize is there are people who see the world diametrically opposed to us perhaps. And we think of them as people who don't get God, don't see God. Even I find myself doing that. Because certainly I hear people talking about a Jesus I don't know.

A judgy Jesus. An angry Jesus. I only saw Jesus angry a couple of times in the stories about him. And mostly it had to do with religious people who were sure they were the only ones who knew the right answers about who God is. Most of the rest of the time I didn't see a lot of angry Jesus.

So and judgy Jesus, I didn't see judgy Jesus either. But I see a lot of that in the world. And in those moments it's hard for me to recognize that the person who is in that state of mind is just as beloved of God as I am. Whether they are getting it right or not, that's not completely up to me to judge. So I want to offer you the encouragement and I've done it in a variety of ways but to really look this week, look in the days ahead.

Where do you see God? Think of reports from the field. I talked about this a couple of weeks ago in the Weekly Moment, Weekly Podcast. But reports from the field. Where would you say that you saw God?

Don't be afraid to pull me aside on a Sunday morning if you're in worship or don't be afraid to send me an email pastordulandchurch dot org and share with me the places that you encountered God out in the world. In that homeless person who was panhandling on the corner and you talked to him and that changed your moment. In the conversation with a small child who has all the wonder that you thought you had lost and for a moment you catch a glimpse of the wonder all over again. You know, just for the fun of it, you know when we talk about particularly in the Hebrew Bible what often is called the Old Testament, when we talk about the fear of God, the word that we translate fear could just as easily be translated awe, wonder, breathtaking nature of God. How often do you just take a glance at the stars and stand in awe?

God isn't so interested in you being afraid as in being in awe and wonder, this beautiful mystery we're a part of. And when you encounter mystery, you encounter God. When you encounter your neighbor, you encounter God. When you encounter a flower, you encounter God. God isn't those things, but God is in those things, and God reveals the divine in those moments.

So be on the lookout. Be on the lookout for God in your everyday life, in your favorite music, in your favorite silence, in all the places you go, in all the things you do. Because wherever you go, there goes God as well. So it's been great to be with you this week. I wish you all the best.

Until the next time we're together, please feel free to send me, drop me an email, let me know what you're thinking, any questions you have, any thoughts you have, any topics you'd like me to address, but otherwise hope you'll have a great week.