Voices of Faith: Where is God?

Voices of Faith: Where is God?

The Rev. Duke Tufty, pastor, Unity Temple on the Plaza, Kansas City, Mo.: In the far off reaches of the sky, a dimension of pure serenity and peace serves as residence to a grand and majestic jewel-encrusted golden throne upon which the Lord God Almighty, with long white hair and beard, sits looking down on all creation, judging who is good and who is evil, who will come to heaven and who will go to hell. That’s one theory that has been around for a while.

Another theory, which has been scientifically proven, holds to the belief that God is the everywhere present energy of the universe, the very life force of every living thing, a spirit that makes up every cell of our bodies and provides us with what we need to live a comfortable and fulfilling life.

If we were to microscopically observe your physical makeup, moving inward past the levels of tissue, bone, cells, molecules and atoms, we would discover a nonphysical energy (spirit) that makes up 99 percent of your being. As difficult as it may be to believe, 99 percent of your body is space.

In addition, the spirit in you is exactly the same as the spirit in me. It not only exists in each of us but also permeates the space among us and the outer space around us, including the sun, the moon and the stars. God is it all, “it” being everything that is.

The Rev. Pat Rush, pastor, Visitation Catholic Church: For the Hebrews in the desert, God was ahead of them, leading them forward out of slavery into freedom. For the early church, God was very near, rousing his power at times of evil and tragedy to bring new life out of death. To the philosopher, God is the foundation of being, giving form to life and holding the disparateness of creation together.

A blind woman to whom I once took Communion told me she found God in her darkness. A couple married 60 years said they found God in the gentle faithfulness of their love. Members of our sister parish in El Salvador tell us they find God in our concern for them. Thomas Merton found God in his solitude, while Mother Teresa found God in the poor.

Where is God? Although God remains beyond us, God is, nevertheless, also within our lives and world. God is within history, and God penetrates our human experience, creating his own ways, deeds and plans. God leads our lives and world wisely forward out of sin and death toward the dawn of the promised new heavens and new earth. God becomes especially active when we are threatened by evil, giving us victory by rousing powers beyond those within our world. God manifests himself in the community of believers and our efforts on behalf of love, justice and peace among people.