Title: Unexpected Presence
Author: Christopher B. Harbin
Text: Genesis 28:10-19a
Do we expect God to show up? If we do, where, how, and when do we expect God to show up? Do we relegate God showing up to a sanctuary, in the punishing storms of nature, in a hospital room, or some place of refuge? If we find God appearing where we might least expect it, how do we respond to that encounter or experience of God's unexpected presence?
Years back, I remember talking with a child who asked a simple question, "Where is God?" How could I answer a preschooler in any way that made sense, was meaningful, and was appropriate for a three year old? I told them, "Well, God is here; God is everywhere." I got an unexpected response. "Can I talk to God?" I responded, "Sure." The child leaned forward, looking around carefully, and said, "Hello? God?" It was an adorable and cute response, but it also called into question my prowess at communicating good theology to a preschooler.
The child was looking for a physical being of some sort. The child was attempting to encounter God in a similar way in which we encounter people, animals, or even trees. Rather than answering this as a philosophical or theological question by a seminary student, I probably should have attempted to find out why the child was asking in order to better address the question, from the child's perspective, instead of my own. My expectations were one thing. The child with whom I was speaking had different ones. When the two clashed together, neither one of us communicated clearly.
There is a sense in which that child's expectations were more on point than any of my own. While I do expect God to show up and become revealed at least on occasion, I don't expect it in quite as direct a fashion as that three year old. I cloud a lot of my expectations in theological language, when perhaps I should be looking a bit more directly to see God in the world all around me, as present as the next person I encounter, o ...
Author: Christopher B. Harbin
Text: Genesis 28:10-19a
Do we expect God to show up? If we do, where, how, and when do we expect God to show up? Do we relegate God showing up to a sanctuary, in the punishing storms of nature, in a hospital room, or some place of refuge? If we find God appearing where we might least expect it, how do we respond to that encounter or experience of God's unexpected presence?
Years back, I remember talking with a child who asked a simple question, "Where is God?" How could I answer a preschooler in any way that made sense, was meaningful, and was appropriate for a three year old? I told them, "Well, God is here; God is everywhere." I got an unexpected response. "Can I talk to God?" I responded, "Sure." The child leaned forward, looking around carefully, and said, "Hello? God?" It was an adorable and cute response, but it also called into question my prowess at communicating good theology to a preschooler.
The child was looking for a physical being of some sort. The child was attempting to encounter God in a similar way in which we encounter people, animals, or even trees. Rather than answering this as a philosophical or theological question by a seminary student, I probably should have attempted to find out why the child was asking in order to better address the question, from the child's perspective, instead of my own. My expectations were one thing. The child with whom I was speaking had different ones. When the two clashed together, neither one of us communicated clearly.
There is a sense in which that child's expectations were more on point than any of my own. While I do expect God to show up and become revealed at least on occasion, I don't expect it in quite as direct a fashion as that three year old. I cloud a lot of my expectations in theological language, when perhaps I should be looking a bit more directly to see God in the world all around me, as present as the next person I encounter, o ...
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