Where God Can Be Found

Jesus taught us that God is found in relationship. Indeed, Jesus’ deepest desire was that we all enter into the relationship that he enjoyed with the Father. As he said before he died, “I pray not only for them [his disciples] but also for those who believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us….” (Jn 17:21).

One man who understood this teaching was the musician Pete Seeger. As another musician, Ani DiFranco, said of him, “Each time I saw him was a lesson in how to be a better person. An interviewer listed Pete’s many awards and honors and then asked what was his greatest accomplishment. Pete said it was marrying the best woman he’d ever met, staying married for seventy years, and having three kids and six grandchildren. In other words, he said a successful human being is someone who’s created a happy family and supportive relationships.”

If we believe, as Jesus said, that God is found in relationship, and if we want our own lives to be a lesson in how to be a better person, it appears that we should focus on nurturing our relationships with God and others. Then the God we seek will indeed live among us and be one with us, and when our body dies and we encounter God in a new way, we will recognize the Holy One and realize that God was in our midst all along.