The Inescapable God

Growing up in a small town, I was raised to believe that no matter where I went, someone would be watching.

Maybe it was the lack of smart phones in those days. Or maybe people simply spent more time looking out the window in the 80s. I don’t know. But I learned early on that people often were watching. Caring adults. Nosy neighbors. Herb, across the street, who just wanted my mother to know he had seen her son and some other boys crawl out of the storm sewer earlier that day.

Being “always watched” had its pitfalls, especially as a kid who liked to explore and be independent from adults. But it was also my salvation, more than once. Like when I fell through some ice in the creek bed – and my friend’s mom saw it and came running. Or when my high school biology teacher, during a particular busy season in school, noticed me nodding off in class and pulled me aside to encourage me to take better care of myself. People were watching. And what a gift that was – those who watched and cared.

The writer of Psalm 139 prays: Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?…Even before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely…You know when I sit down and when I rise.

I find this passage both comforting and unnerving. It’s unnerving to think that when it comes to God’s presence and awareness, there is no hiding. God knows all our imperfections, failures and secrets. Completely. There is no such thing as privacy when it comes to God.

Yet this is also our salvation. That while we are fully seen and known by God, we are also fully loved, fully held and fully safe in God’s hands. We cannot escape God’s presence. No matter the situation or location. God is with us…in worship and in the fields. In our living rooms and our hospital rooms. In our gratefulness and our bitterness and anger. We can neglect God’s presence – forget it or even deny it – but God’s presence remains. With us. Around us. Always.

Why do we gather then? If God is everywhere, why do we worship and pray, share sacraments and sing songs together? Why do we church? We church to remember – to experience this simple truth and to let the Spirit guide us into sharing it with others.

May this “God with us” meet you again this summer, wherever you are and wherever you go!