Let’s say we were playing the game show “Family Feud”. The top six answers are on the board, and Steve Harvey turns to us and asks, “Tell me a place or circumstances when you expect to encounter God.” The first contestant smashes the buzzer and calls out “church.” Their team nods - good answer, good answer. Number one answer, probably! The rest of the team in turn calls out their answers - I expect to encounter God when prayers are answered, when success comes, when faith feels strong.
Since Family Feud polls regular people (even in this imagined scenario), and the suggested responses seem to be in line with mainstream popular Christianity in the US, I have no doubt that those answers would be up on the board. But if we were instead to generate responses based on our readings for today, I think we’d come up with quite different results.
It’s true - the ways and places we expect to see God are often very different from the places God chooses to be revealed.
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| Photo by Geda Žyvatkauskaitė on Unsplash |
We certainly see this in today’s readings. In First Kings, the prophet Elijah is hiding out in a cave, overwhelmed by fear, and hunger, and threats against his life. God finds Elijah there, and tells him to go stand outside, for the Lord is about to pass by. Based on other stories in Scripture, it would be reasonable to expect that the powerful wind that kicks up was the Lord passing by, but…it wasn’t. Neither was the Lord in a mighty earthquake, or a raging fire - all attention-demanding displays of power and might. Instead, after all that, it was the sound of sheer silence that alerted Elijah to God’s presence.
Yes, God shows up in ways and places we don’t expect.
In our reading from Acts, Paul, Timothy, and Silas are traveling as missionaries throughout Asia Minor. They have some success at first, going from town to town to share news from the church in Jerusalem. Acts 16:5 recounts that “...the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.” But then they run into some challenges. They expected to keep on sharing the good news in this way, but soon, at every place they try to stop, the Holy Spirit prevents them from staying. Not here, keep moving. Not here, keep moving. It’s certainly not what they expect. Eventually, Paul has a vision of a man pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” A totally different area, an unexpected call. So they cross the Aegean Sea and make their way there.
Later, in the part of the story we pick up today, they have to figure out where to best meet people. Where will people go to find God in a city that has no synagogue? Where will people go to find God in a city in the land of gentiles? Certainly their main audience would be men, learned, able to debate, and leaders of their households. But on the Sabbath, they make their way outside the city gates and down by the river, expecting there to be a place of prayer. These missionaries sit and talk with the women who are gathered there, and they meet Lydia. Lydia, who defies expectations - she is a gentile, but a devout one; a woman, who is also a wealthy dealer of expensive purple cloth; she brings not just herself but her whole household to be baptized; she is a stranger who offers hospitality.
Yes, God shows up in people we don’t expect.
Our Gospel reading picks up right where last week’s left off. Jesus has just multiplied the five loaves and two fish to be enough to feed over 5,000 people. If they were going to see God that day, surely that miraculous event was it! Abundance, astonishment, joy, crowds - yes, they saw God. That evening, the disciples get in a boat and head across the sea of Galilee, while Jesus dismisses the crowds, then goes off by himself to pray.
The seas are rough that evening. Wind and waves crash into the boat, and by the wee hours of the morning they find themselves still far from land. I’m sure the disciples are exhausted and frustrated. So, when they look out over the water to see a figure walking toward them, it’s no wonder they’re terrified and think it must be a ghost. After all, that’s not where or how we expect to encounter anyone, whether human or God.
As he approaches on the water, Jesus speaks to them - “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” But Peter…..Peter wants to be sure. And so, Peter responds, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” I can imagine Jesus kind of shaking his head, like, sure, Peter, you do that… Peter climbs out of the boat, and for a few steps it seems like he’s doing it! But then he notices the strong wind, becomes frightened, and begins to sink, calling out, “Lord, save me!”
Of course, Jesus immediately reaches out and saves him. He says, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” I think we’re used to interpreting this as, “Why did you doubt that you could walk on water?” but I think it makes more sense as “Why did you doubt that it was me? Why did you need a way to prove it?”
After all, God shows up in ways we don’t expect - even out on the water.
What about you? Where do you expect to encounter God?
As we think back to our Family Feud responses, none of them are unreasonable. I hope that we expect to encounter God when we come to worship, and in our answered prayers. In fact, if we think back to the Catechism, we read that Jesus promises to be present in the waters of baptism, and in the bread and wine we share in the Communion meal.
Our trouble comes if we insist that it is only here that God shows up, as if confined to these walls and these rituals and these people who gather each week.
Instead, God shows up in ways and places and people we don’t expect. As a tiny baby, born in a small town and announced to shepherds and foreign sages. On a cross, that instrument of punishment, torture, and shame. Beside an empty tomb, resurrected when we expected death to have the last word.
So what do we expect? Do we assume that God shows up more in big, vibrant congregations with lots of people than in small congregations that struggle to pay the bills? Do we assume that God is present more when things run perfectly than when everything’s a mess? Do we expect that God is too busy with big crises around the world to be present in our small moments of uncertainty, grief, or fear?
If we hear anything from today’s readings, I hope it’s a reminder that if we expect anything, it should be for God to surprise us - to show up in ways and places and people we don’t expect. For the gift of God's surprising, unfailing presence, we give thanks.
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