Where does God live?

‘Where does God live?’ said many a child (and some adults too) or perhaps the question might be ‘where is God’s home?’.

How might you answer the question “Where is God?” I once tried to do this in my early 20’s to a group of eight-year-old boys in a Sunday School class. There was much amusement and a bit of concern when I said God’s Spirit was everywhere. Do you mean God is there in my house? And you can guess which room in the house he then said God might be in, with a bit of a chuckle. I tried to maintain a sense of control being the teacher, and said “Yes, God is there with us wherever we are’.

I realised then that it is sometimes hard to say what you mean, for sometimes the answer is less about what we know and more about relationships, including with God. For if we know God as unconditional love, and as a Presence that invites us to share divine hospitality with others, then we are more able to explain where and who God is.

The story from Second Samuel chapter 7 begins with King David being settled in his house with the Lord having given him rest from his enemies. Recognising how comfortable he is, King David says that it didn’t seem right that God dwelt, in “The Ark”, in a tent, and asks whether God should have a house too. You can see how this kind of thought could happen even for ourselves. The human tendency is to want to contain God, to make God something special, as a way of showing how we love and worship God. Many cathedrals have been built with this intent, to glorify God most holy.

Yet the prophet Nathan in the story brings a strange reply as if from God to his request: “Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house so far in my current journey with you. I have been found in a tent, a tabernacle, a meeting place. I didn’t ask for a house, but I have been with you wherever you went.”

The surprise of the story is that rather than make God a house, God desires to make David a house, a place of peace and hospitality, a place with plants being planted, hospitality given and received, and new leadership emerging. This house will be “of the Lord’s planting” not David’s. There will be a spiritual house built, but it will be built after David’s life has ended.

If you had heard such a message, I wonder how you might have felt, to know your good intentions were not it seemed in line with the longer-term purposes of God?

So where does God live? Or rather where does God’s love live in your experience? When are part of a Christian community we will be known as followers of Christ by the way we love one another. Certainly, we will make mistakes and there are times for tough love when we might challenge each other regarding how we might behave, yet we are continually called back to the fruits of the Spirit outlined in Galatians 5 “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”.

So where does God live? In many places. The home of God is experienced where God’s people love. When we love, the God who is not fully seen nor confined, IS seen, and known by the effect on others, and ourselves, and creation.

We join with the community of God’s beloved children throughout time and declare there is a place where we are welcomed as part of God’s household. We love because God first loved us.

Rev Lynette Dungan