Where Is God?

Helix Nebula, aka The Eye of God Nebula

Today in church, we had a guest preacher, from Church of the Resurrection, who spoke about "Where Is God?" In contrast to the common view that God is somewhere "up there", usually looking down disapprovingly waiting to cast lightning from his baleful eye, she told some personal stories about meeting God in the person of a homeless woman she met in the basement of a church cathedral, a blue heron that she met while napping in the country, and an amusing answer to prayer when she asked God to show her something "different" and within a minute saw an armadillo for the very first time.

This is a very prominent Benedictine motif, namely that we see the face of God in the stranger, in all who are “other” and "strange," and in Creation itself. The Rule of Benedict Chapter 53 says, “Let all guests who arrive be received as Christ…let all humility be shown to the guests…let Christ be adored in them as He is also received.” Indeed, it is so important to make strangers feel welcome as Christ that Benedict orders that fasts be broken for them (unheard of in that time).