The Impossible Absence of God

You may or may not know this, but I was recently elected circuit counselor for my circuit. This means extra duty, including a conference I have to attend this week in Milwaukee. So, I'll be away for a few days and probably won't have access to a computer. But if the Milwaukee Hyatt Regency has free wi-fi and house computers for use at no charge, I'll try to find the time to post.

The internet is amazing to me because I can still communicate in writing even when I'm out of town. I can check my e-mail, post a blog, surf. I know that's probably not news to you, but I'm just now discovering all of this. What's incredible to think about for me is that I can still be present even when I'm not around at home.

I know this might be a little bit of a stretch, but I'm going to say that this is analogous to how many people view the presence of God. How often do we think that God is absent? For many, God is like an absentee landlord who just checks in occasionally to make sure everything is alright, and when God's done with his business he checks out and goes home. But God still communicates and sends out "signals" to let us know that he's okay and he'll see us again soon. "Just call if you need me!"

Most people I talk to are deistic in their thinking about God, which means that God is watching us from a distant heaven and intervenes only when God deems it necessary. When someone asks, "Where was God on September 11, 2001?" (a deistic question), a deistic-thinking person will answer, "Well, he's in heaven and he allowed those planes to crash into the WTC and Pentagon." It's like the blind leading the blind, and both will fall into a pit. I actually read recently a piece which said that God is like someone standing on a hillside who can see a road below on which two cars are on collision course. He can see that these two cars will collide, but there's nothing he can do about it. That, my friends, is deism writ large! It implies that God is absent. But that is impossible. How can God be absent? Because terrorism happens? Is God obliged to rid the world of terror? This is not the God I see revealed in Christ.

God does not deal with individuals or situations like an overworked nurse in a hospital emergency room. God deals with all of humanity collectively and covenantally. God has no favorites, national or otherwise, and God is not capricious. Through Jesus God brought heaven to earth, and so there is nowhere we can go that will place us outside of the God's presence.

The task of ridding the world of terrorism is not God's job. It's ours. How? We must address the terror within ourselves instead of always looking for it outside of ourselves. Jesus revealed the terror that resides in the human heart. Look what we did to him. We nailed him to a cross! When we see that, we realize where the real problem resides. God wants us to see it because his specialty is in cleansing our hearts! And having our hearts rid of terror we are in a position to help others rid their hearts of terror. That's God's peace plan, and it's the only one that works!