Where Is God?

About, above, across, against, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, by, down, during, for, from, in, inside, et cetera.  Most people my age probably recognize this alphabet sequence that might still be taught in school.  I learned it many years ago.  It was burned into my mind by at least one of my elementary school teachers as the list of invaluable prepositions. 

Remember the rule of grammar to never end a sentence with a preposition. We all break that rule when we say things like, “You’ve suspended Tom Brady for four games?  Commissioner Goodell, what are you thinking of?”

I mention this list because there is one preposition in today’s 2nd reading (1 John 4:11-16) that has very special significance and meaning.  This one little, two-letter word makes it clear where we can find God.   It’s the proposition “in.”  

So, where is God?   That’s a question many of us ask ourselves, especially when things go wrong for us and we cry out or ask:  “Where are you God?   Show your face?  Why aren’t you here with me to hear my prayers?  How could you let this happen to me?  Help me!”

Where is God?  Is God up there, or over there?  Many of us may still look around for God as if God is playing “Hide and Seek,” and we say: “Olly, olly oxen free!”  For you hide-and-seekers you’ll remember this catchphrase that’s from the German “Alle, alle, auch sind frei” meaning: “all who are hiding can come out into the open without losing the game.”

Where is God who seems so elusive at times?  Let’s refer to the preposition “in” that we find aplenty in the second reading from 1 John that reads with one small modification: “…No one has ever seen God.  Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and God’ love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in God and God in us…” 

We hear what we already know, or at least suspect.  God is not really sitting on a throne in heaven as sung in our psalm. Although, when we look above the altar at the window, we see Christ on a throne.   A bit awkward don’t you think?  Christ, God, up there as a throne-sitting king.  It’s such a fascinating contradiction.

The answer to the question is: God is as close to us as our hearts. God is heart-felt.  God is in us.  We have divinity within us, even the worst of us.  For some that divinity is like a small spark just waiting for the right tinder to catch fire; for others just a pilot light; for some a blazing fire.  Some act as if they are trying to put out their flames with buckets of water.

Consider this.  When I, or other deacons, or our priests pour a drop of water into the chalice of wine before consecration, we quietly say:  “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” That’s quite profound.  That pretty much says it all.   We share in divinity.  This makes a great deal of sense because after all, don’t we already know that God as the Holy Spirit is within us, as well as outside of us. 

So, we need to act as if we are divine.  Is that hard to do?  No.  We act divine when we are loving.  Such a simple recipe!  Remember, according to 1 John: “if we love one another, God remains in us…This is how we know that we remain in God and God in us…”  

We need to show that love to those we know – especially to a family member or a friend when they walk away or hide from us because they are ashamed of something they did or said to us. They are afraid to come to us for fear that they will be unforgiven. 

In a way they are afraid to come out into the open – to approach us – for fear they have lost our love.  When this happens, because we share in Christ’s divinity, we must shout at them:  “Olly, Olly oxen free!”

Deacon David Pierce 
(Homily given 7th Sunday of Easter, May 17)