About a month ago I asked friends and family where they thought God might be in this pandemic. After I summarized their thoughts, I mentioned that I would attempt at some point to summarize my own thoughts. That project has taken longer than I expected, partially because right after that I started an email book study with another retired minister. She is the one who stated that she no longer believes in an objectified God, which really got me thinking and looking for more. The book she recommends is “God and the World,” by John Cobb, which, by the way, I do not recommend unless you have studied theology. It is weighty and difficult to read. Not something I expected to wade through in my retirement years. Yet, it has been fun on many levels. Now, however, is the time to answer my own questions, and Easter is as good a day as any, considering all the symbolism of the resurrection and new life!

So, first, I do not see God as something or someone sitting on a throne in the vast heavens, directing the rampage called Covid 19. In fact, God is not a busybody up there directing the details of our lives, ever. And, God is not a being at all. For me, God is formless spirit that exists in the cosmos. God permeates all things and exists everywhere, including within our own spirits (omnipresent). So, the short answer is, “God is right here, right now, and is available to us.” Several of the people who responded to my question said the same thing.

Please understand that I am not randomly defining God in a way that suits me. That God is spirit is a teaching found right in Scripture. For example, consider the words of Jesus in John 4:24. Jesus is scolding Samaritans for not properly understanding and worshiping God. He says, “God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” In terms of God’s omnipotence, in Jeremiah 23:23-33 God says, I am a God who is everywhere and not in one place only.” There are many other references; I have highlighted only two because I am retired and don’t have to prove my point to anyone anymore! But you can find them if you care to look.

So, I believe that God is spirit and everywhere. However, just like I have my favorite haunts where you are most likely to find me, God is easier to find in certain places. Right now, God is quite visible to us in the people who are working hard to save others and in everyone else trying to make things better for someone else. You know the ones I am talking about: those who, for example, check on a neighbor or make sandwiches for the front line health care workers. We have seen hundreds, even thousands, of stories about these people on social media and in the news. We can and will call these people the “face of God.” In my life I have often seen the face of God in others but not on such a grand scale.

Many people, including myself, talk about finding the spirit God in nature. Even people who aren’t interested in God have talked about that “something special” in the great outdoors. That is part of why I spend every moment I can traveling in and hanging out in the great outdoors. Being out in creation acts as a portal to God’s spirit. But again, this is not a unique thought. Sacred scriptures are full of these kinds of references as are the writings of contemporary folks. One of my favorites is John Muir, who as the founder of the Sierra Club, was also a deeply spiritual man. One of his many quotes about the outdoors, “Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God.”

I have most often, however, found God in the world’s sacred scriptures. This includes the Old Testament of Judaism and the New Testament of Christianity as well as the wisdom texts of other traditions. Humanity has a vast collection of writings set down by people who were trying to document our collective wisdom so that we don’t have to always learn things the hard way. Everything we need to know in terms of how to be and how to act are in the words therein. God’s spirit, too, is in the words and the lessons they impart. When reading sacred scripture, I always found answers and/or the peace I was looking for. They never failed me. Sometimes, when I was especially overwhelmed and tired, I would just lay down and hug a book of scripture and, somehow, God’s peace found me.

“Sacred Words,” April 2020

So, there is my answer to where God might be in this pandemic: the same places as always. In people, in the great outdoors, and in the world’s wisdom traditions (and other creative pursuits). You might have expected something more complicated considering my training and work as a minister. However, the older I get, the simpler things seem. The only real insight I have on this Easter Sunday is that the question I posed about “where is God right now” is actually a call to seek God’s spirit in those and other places. Need comfort, hope, and strength? Need to rise about selfishness and hoarding? God’s spirit can infuse us with its goodness should we care to look for it.