Where is God?

Last week we had a pre-Reformation conversation about Luther, and since today is actually Reformation Sunday I figured we would all appreciate hearing more from Luther. There are so many great things that Luther wrote, but in light of our scripture readings today, the one that came to mind is this, "God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars,". Some people might be confused because Luther was also a huge proponent of the Solas of the Reformation which we have been exploring in my weekly newsletters, and one of the main ones for Luther was Sola Scriptura or Scripture Alone. The idea of scripture alone was to take back the authority of the gospel over anything else. At that time there were many laws and rules and customs that were claimed to be vital to the Christian faith that didn’t actually come from the Bible. Luther intended people to return to the gospel as the sole source of God’s word and he helped do that by translating the Bible into the language of the people instead of only Latin.

So when Luther then says that, "God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars," he is not contradicting his idea of Sola Scriptura, but showing that through the scriptures we see how God’s love and presence is experienced in nature and that we should understand that while we know God’s plan and authority in scripture, we can also experience the living God in our everyday encounters with the world. God is not meant to be experienced in just the Word, but also in our everyday lives and encounters with the world and one another.

And if you want to explore more quotes from Luther you can head over to the social hall after church and look at all the quotes we have pulled up, including the one I am using. You can also do an online search for Luther quotes and if you do that, I am going to warn you now, you better be in a comfy chair and have your favorite snack or beverage with you, because you are in for a very long read. And yes I mean it. Luther wrote so prolifically that even just reading quotes from Luther and not the actual works themselves will take you quite some time. In fact, when I was asked by the Worship Arts team to comes up with quotes I had to stop myself from going even further down the rabbit hole of quotes because I kept feeling like there would be even better ones if I just kept looking at more of them.

Putting that aside though, I feel like the question that we have been tiptoeing around is: “Where is God?” Is God in scripture, in cathedrals or churches? Is God in nature like Luther is quoted as saying? Do we find God in our homes or at the supermarket? Is God present at football games or clubs and bars? If you happen to ask the guy I met at Albertsons a few months back, then you would definitely know that God was not only at football games, but God also influenced the outcome of football games. I say that because after church one Sunday I was at Albertsons and the guy told me he needed prayer and I have to say my curiosity was peaked because it honestly sounded serious. Well the seriousness of it was that his football team was playing that afternoon and he wanted prayers for his team’s victory. Needless to say my curiosity and excitement for his mans need for prayer quickly fizzled. So perhaps God is at the grocery store and the football games.

A few years ago there was another man I met who refused to come into the church building because he honestly thought there was a chance that he was going to be struck with lightning by God. I tried to assure him that no matter what he had done in his life that God was a God of grace and that he would not in fact be struck by lightning. He didn’t buy it and wouldn’t come inside. So what I understood from this man was that God was in fact just inside churches. Earlier this year I also shared a story of a man who was at a funeral and walked in the church building but wouldn’t go in the sanctuary because, “something big lives here”. Here again is another perception that God lives in the sanctuary of the church.

Then if we look at both last week and this weeks scripture readings, both of them center around the creation of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. Both David last week and Solomon this week are set on creating temple or house for God. David recognized the beautiful cedar and brick palace that had been built for him and how God was living in a tent. In David’s mind it wasn’t right that David should live in something more luxurious than God. Now Solomon hires the same skilled workers from King Hiram that were used to build David’s palace because these workers are the best around.

On the one hand you could argue that the building of the temple was to experience the presence of God for the people. So it would be accurate to say that God is in the temple. On the other hand, if we look at Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple we see that even though Solomon has the temple built and is most likely proud of everything accomplished, and everything it represents, he clearly states that it’s not even close enough to something that could contain God. If heaven and the highest heaven aren’t enough to contain God then how could this temple possibly do it?

Then Solomon’s prayer continues and the last part we hear of it is a plea to protect and listen to the prayers of the immigrants who come into this land because they hear of the great and mighty works of God, and don’t just listen to the immigrants who come to this land but any person from any land praying to you so they may know you listen to them. Not only is this prayer a prayer that emphasizes God’s vastness and how even though this temple is built for God it isn’t meant to contain God, but to be a beacon for people to experience God. Because again in this part of the prayer we hear Solomon declare that he knows when all these people pray that God will listen from heaven. Not from the temple or the altar or the holy of holies, but from heaven.

So where is God? God is everywhere. God is in scripture, and in trees and clouds and flowers and stars. God is in the grocery store and the football game. God is in the temple and the local church. God is in heaven above and here on this earth. God is in the place where we most need to experience God. And while God is everywhere, we as people need somewhere to experience God. That was the point of the temple and that is the point of this church. This church and Solomon’s temple aren’t here to be the dwelling place of God, but it is a place where the prayers and worship of the people come together. For Luther we come together to hear the scripture read rightly, the word rightly preached, and the sacraments rightly administered. And through all that we are brought together as one people worshipping the one God, who is both here with us now and present in the whole world making God’s self known so that we may all experience the love and the grace of God Luther so rightly and pointedly freed into the hands of all people. He did this becuase he wanted all people to know that is what Christ, God’s one and only Son, did for us…to offer us love, grace, and forgiveness…no matter the time or the place. No matter the language or anything else in all creation. God’s love is for all. Blessed Reformation. Amen.