There was once a teacher in a Christian school who was organizing some children to finger-paint. As she walked up and down the rows of desks watching the children put together their creations she was struck by a particularly imaginative picture. So she asked, ‘Billy, what are you painting?’ Billy replied, ‘Oh it’s a picture of God.’ The teacher smiled and said, ‘Well Billy, as you know, nobody has ever seen God.’ With a grin on his face, Billy turned to his teacher and said, ‘In 5 minutes they will.’

This Sunday the Church celebrates the day and season of God’s revealing. It’s called ‘Epiphany.’ And it’s all about finding the ways God is speaking to us – and then paying attention to it.

This Sunday we hear a lesson that talks about the unlikelihood and even absurdity of Nazareth as a place of God’s dwelling. But, of course, there’s always Southfield, or Lathrup Village, or the sanctuary of St. David’s.  The point is that God always chooses unlikely places and improbable people as harbingers of the Word.

This is where we’re asked to go – and to stay.

The unlikely places for God’s recent revelations to me have been in a brand new Bible I picked out for The Bible Challenge, a new year and new goals with ChurchNext, and in an improbable assortment of books that God uses to inspire, correct, and strengthen me to do what I’m being called to do.

What about you? Where are the places God is making God’s self known? What is God saying? Are we paying enough attention?

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Reading

Between Heaven and Mirth – James Martin

Parting the Waters – Taylor Branch

The Guidebook – a new translation of the Bible from Harper-Collins