Who's searching for whom?

The psalm we heard in church yesterday (reprinted above) includes this verse: “You speak in my heart and say seek my face. Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” In many ways, that search sums up the spiritual journey. But I am mindful that scripture speaks about the search in various ways, some of which may seem contradictory. Apparently, we are not the only ones doing the seeking.

According to scripture, God is searching. The first pages of the Bible have God walking in the garden, looking for Adam and Eve, who were hiding because they are buck naked. The Lord asks: Where are you? And that's just the beginning. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, we read that God holds out hands all day long to a rebellious people (Isaiah 65:2)

In his book, God in Search of Man, Abraham Joseph Heschel writes: “The mysterious paradox of Biblical faith: God is pursuing man. It is as if God were unwilling to be alone, and He had chosen man to serve Him. Our seeking Him is not only man’s, but also His concern, and must not be considered an exclusively human affair. His will is involved in all our yearnings. All of human history is described in the phrase: God in search of man.”

A seminary professor described our relationship with God as synergy, literally working together. Paul captured this in his loving letter to the Philippians: “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God who is at work in you.” Karl Barth captured the synergy, noting the link between God’s grace and our response. He wrote:

“Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth. Grace evokes gratitude like the voice an echo. Gratitude follows grace like thunder lightning…We are speaking of the grace of the God who is God for man, and of the gratitude of man as his response to this grace…Radically and basically all sin is simply ingratitude—man’s refusal of the one but necessary thing which is proper to and is required of him with whom God has graciously entered into covenant. As far as man is concerned, there can be no question of anything but gratitude; but gratitude is the complement which man must necessarily fulfill.”

In other words, we have a part to play in this. Can we embrace the image of God which Jesus shared in the parable of the lost sheep? In that story, the Holy One is like unto a shepherd leaving 99 sheep in the fold, looking for one lost sheep, a quite irrational thing to do? And where does that leave us? How do we search for God?

A favorite canticle (Canticle 10, The Second Song of Isaiah) begins with the word: Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Paul in the letter to the Romans quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures: The word is very near you. And when Paul preaches to Athenians, in a pagan setting surrounded by statues to all kinds of gods, he notes God’s presence there. He says to that secular crowd: In God we live and move and have our being.

Yet so many times in the psalms, we read the question addressed to the Holy One: Where have you gone? Are you asleep?

Have you ever posed those questions? Maybe an answer comes as we realize we don’t have to search for a God who is far off. We simply have to recognize holy presence all around us. Nicolas Malebranche, 16^th century priest and philosopher said it this way: “Attentiveness is the prayer of the soul.” Again, from Abraham Heschel: “God is less rare than we think; when we long for Him, His distance crumbles away”

The question for us then becomes: How are we being attentive, mindful of God’s presence? Are we too distracted to notice? Are our schedules too full to sense God’s presence? Do we fear we’ve messed up too badly? And is gratitude part of our spiritual practice?

One of my spiritual guides, the Rev. Dr. Dwight Zscheile says that our mission in the world as disciples of Jesus is to see what God is already up to in the neighborhood. That’s a profound theological point, i.e., that God is active and present in all things. We are not the ones who import God’s presence, despite what some missionaries and colonialists might say. All we need? Eyes opened to see God in all things. Gratitude. And in this Lenten season, we might want to explore obstacles to our search. As one preacher put it: If God seems far away, you might want to ask: “Who moved?”

So on this Monday morning, give thanks for a God who seeks us out, like that good shepherd. Amazing grace. And imagine how you might seek God with open heart, mind and strength, growing into greater attentiveness, in so doing enjoying the grace and love at the heart of all things.

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.

Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule. (Now accepting signups for the January 2025 cohort)  Sign up now!