Finding God in the Ordinary

Have you ever said to yourself: “If only I had it to do over again.” Well I’m going to say it again: “If only I had it to do over again.” You’re probably asking yourself: “Do what over again?”

It would be shifting my focus, as a pastor, of encouraging people to learn to experience God in multiple ways in addition to Sunday morning worship.

Having served as the lead pastor of four congregations I emphasized to my congregation the importance of church attendance. The underlying message was clear: God could best be experienced in Sunday morning worship.

Let’s be honest: A pastor is often graded by how he or she performs during that one hour of Sunday worship. So having people in the pews offered some job security as well as personal edification.

Yet I was not helping my folks experience God as fully as they might have by placing so much emphasis on Sunday morning worship. Now don’t get me wrong, I still believe Sunday worship is important, for it is in worship that we may encounter God in meaningful ways; yet I no longer believe it is the only or best way to experience God.

Interestingly God chose the common and mundane to reveal Himself. The Apostle Paul writes: “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God . . . ” (Colossians 1:15). The Bible is very clear that God is Spirit. He is invisible to the naked eye. He cannot be placed in a test tube and observed. He cannot be captured on a video camera. One cannot take a picture of God with a smart phone.

Yet God avails Himself for human experience and encounter in the most common and mundane of ways: In all forms of the creation. God disguises Himself in you and me and in our broken and messy lives. This is perhaps the hardest thing for folks to get their brains around: God is not distant and out there, he is right here. It has been said that God is closer to us than we are to ourselves.

God reveals Himself in the poor and marginalized. He may be experienced and encountered in the eyes of the homeless and the illegal immigrant. He’s right there in full view enticing us to experience Him in ways that far exceed the pomp and circumstance (and I might add sterile and safe) of a well-orchestrated worship service.

He reveals Himself in our enemies, encouraging us to love them as we would our best friend. He is present on a Sunday morning walk along the surf’s edge in the peaceful glow of an early sunrise. He may be encountered and experienced in the ordinary tasks of our work, making work something much more than just a way to earn money. He even reveals Himself in our own personal experiences of conflict.

God reveals Himself in the tragedy of cancer or Alzheimer’s. He may be experienced in the pain of the lone sufferer. God is present even in the most difficult moments and harshest tragedies of life.

Author Eli Wiesel tells the heartbreaking story of a young Jewish boy who was hanged with two other adult prisoners in a Nazi prison camp during World War II. The entire camp was forced to watch as the little boy struggled at the end of the rope, not weighing enough to effectively kill him instantly. Wiesel describes what happens next:

Behind me, I heard the same man asking: "Where is God now?" And I heard a voice   within me answer him: "Where is He? Here he is. He is hanging here on this gallows"

What a powerful image of the ever-present reality of God even in the midst of the ordinariness and messiness of life. These are the places God most often shows up.

Worship can and should be a meaningful and heartfelt experience. Our experience of the Divine in worship can be genuinely heartfelt and life changing. But we rob ourselves of truly meaningful encounters with God when we fail to experience Him in the messy and often painful experiences of ordinary life.

Look for God in the ordinary and often messy circumstance in life, even in your most painful moments. Be on the lookout, for God shows up in the most ordinary ways in life, among the most ordinary people, in the most ordinary places.