Where Is the Lord?

I work on a meal preparation team at our church. Our congregation serves a meal each Wednesday night to anyone who needs it. The number has been going up, over 100 each week now. There would probably be more if we had a public transportation system.

In the Old Testament lectionary reading for the day, Jeremiah 2:4-13, the question is repeatedly asked, “Where is the Lord?” I think the Lord is in the details. Someone has said that the devil is in the details, [usually attributed to architect Ludwig Meis van der Rohe], and that is true, but wherever you find the devil, you will find God as well. I would say that if you want to find God, go to where the devil is most active.

The Lord is in my hands as I scrub chicken breasts, in the hands of Dawn as she puts butter on the tables, in the hands of Moira as she writes down the menus. All the little details of hospitality, the Lord is there.

Jesus always paid attention to the details. Remember the little girl he raised from the dead? Everybody was shouting and dancing and so glad she was alive. Jesus said, “Give her a piece of fish or something. She’s probably really hungry by now.” He was the only one who thought of that little detail.

The Epistle lection for the day, Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16, echoes this emphasis on how we treat others, with the famous statement about hospitality to “angels unaware.”

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that the proper sacrifice to God is not some burnt offering, correctly chosen and slaughtered and prepared and burnt in the correct ritualistic manner, but “the sacrifice of praise.”

In the Gospel lesson for this coming Sunday, Jesus says that when we give a feast, we should invite “the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.” [Luke 14:7-14.]

The devil is active among the poor and maimed and lame and blind these days, and active among those who want to deny that the poor are among us or who want to blame them for their poverty. At least on Wednesday evenings, I know where to look for God.