“Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” -John 12:21b

While out on vacation the past two weeks, I happened to drive past a tiny church. It was a classic “little white church” with a steeple as tall as the church beneath it, surrounded by a white picket fence, with the letters “Ev. Luth. KIRCHE” (Evangelical Lutheran Church, abbreviated and in German) lettered on the front. As I drive by, I thought, “What a charming, historic building!” and “I wonder if there’s still a congregation there.”

As our return trip took us past the church again, I pulled into the gravel parking lot to take a closer look. Though the door was locked, I was able to find out a little about the Elbe Church from its website. The church shares its name with the town in which it’s located, given by the German founders of both town and church. No congregation worships any more in this historic building, except once a month when pastors from the nearby ELCA congregations take turns offering a Sunday afternoon service, March through November.

I would be very curious to know what those services are like, who attends, what it feels like inside. Are there hymnals and bulletins still printed in German to look at, or is everything in English? I’ll never know; I didn’t have a chance to be there on a third Sunday at 2:30pm. My timing was bad, or the opportunities were insufficient, or some combination of the two.

Timing does matter, doesn’t it? Or, perhaps it would be better to say that opportunity matters. With only one opportunity per month to worship at the Elbe Church, timing is paramount. If there were lots of opportunities, though, the timing would matter less. With opportunities all the time, timing wouldn’t matter at all! Of course, it’s impractical to expect a little historic church without a congregation to be open all the time; once a month is probably just right. I simply missed my chance to see.

As I think about timing and opportunities, I think about the ways that encountering God is different from attending a worship service. While of course (of course!) we can expect to encounter God, and particularly God’s grace, whenever we hear God’s word proclaimed and share in the Lord’s Supper together, we mustn’t think that God can only be met on Sunday morning for an hour or two. God turns up all the time, and in all sorts of places. 

Now, there are plenty of reasons for God to be so very present in our world, but the simplest one is this: God doesn’t want to miss us. God wants to share joy and grace and mercy and new life with us, whether we’ve arrived early or late or right on time. To put it another way, God doesn’t want us to miss our chance. So God seems to take the chance right out of our encounters, showing up over and over, in all sorts of places at any time at all.

We don’t always notice God, though, even when God makes a point of being there. I drove right past that church the first time I saw it. (And, let’s not pretend: I love a good church visit. I was on vacation for two weeks and I was in three different ELCA churches over that period.) I had other places to be and a busy day ahead. I wonder if we could learn to pay a little more attention, just to notice how God is already right there. Imagine noticing God speaking through the conversation with your neighbor, providing through the meal you enjoy, nurturing through the sun that makes the plants grow, putting you in your place when the mighty thunder rolls. Imagine paying attention so close that you noticed God everywhere.

Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we just can’t spot God. Never fear! God has a solution for this myopia: one another. It’s your job, when you see God, to point. “Look here!” you might declare, “and see what God has done!” Scripture uses the word “witness” for this work: we point to God, and especially to God’s love revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Get pointing. The time is now. Don’t let anyone miss the chance to see Jesus.