Sermon on March 8, 2026
“Is God Among Us or Not?”
By: The Very Rev. Pamela Dolan
“Is the Lord among us or not?” If you believe the testimony of the Psalm, the Israelites were punished for asking that question. Maybe. But I’d like to think that, when keeping the whole narrative arc of Scripture in mind, the God we meet in Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments, is not a god who punishes us for asking questions. Moses questioned God many times. Abraham asked questions and even bargained with God. Sarah laughed at God’s messengers. We don’t think of any of these ancestors in the faith as having been punished or rejected by God.
Questions are not the problem; in fact, thinking you have all the answers might be a much bigger problem. Thinking you have all the answers leads to “hardness of heart,” something we see clearly in the Israelites who are grumbling against Moses. Hardness of heart in turn can lead to idolatry, perhaps the most grievous temptation and sin of all. The idolatry of the Israelites when they wandered in the desert was clear and concrete: they had Aaron construct a golden calf so that they would have something solid and reassuring to worship.
Most of us, at one time or another, have had a golden calf in our lives. It is often our very human desires for security, for certainty, for safety, that become hardened into idolatry, as we fixate on a solution or savior that is something other than God but that holds godlike value for us, be it the stock market, the letters after our name that indicate academic achievement and acceptance, and so on.
Asking questions indicates openness. Believing we have all the answers closes us off, so that no new ideas, no stirrings of the Spirit, can touch us. So no, I hardly think the worst thing we can do is ask questions, even or especially of God.
Both last week and this week our Gospel readings tell stories of people who question Jesus. Nicodemus and the Woman at the Well are parallel figures in many ways, almost as if they were designed for a compare-and-contrast essay question. The surface differences are obvious: he is a man with a name, a religious leader, who initiates an encounter with Jesus at night, in the dark. She is a woman who is not given a name, an outsider, not a Jew or a leader, someone who encounters Jesus at his instigation, in the light and heat of the noonday sun.
The more important difference between them, though, is in how they respond to Jesus. Nicodemus leaves the encounter still questioning and not yet ready to step into the light and share the hope that is in him. The woman at the well also still has questions, to be sure. But her questions exhibit a genuine willingness to have her mind changed, her understanding expanded. As Karoline Lewis writes, “She demonstrates what can happen when we actually engage in conversation and questions about our faith. The woman at the well shows us that faith is about dialogue, about growth and change. It is not about having all the answers.”[i] And when you read the story, you get a sense of how much Jesus enjoys their exchange. Definitely no sense of rejection or punishment from him.
Furthermore, when she finds that this encounter with Jesus has changed her, transformed her heart and mind in some way, she is unafraid to go back to her community and tell them about what happened. She encourages others to find out for themselves what they might experience if they too encounter Jesus, uttering those words that mean so much in the Gospel of John: “Come and see.” She is a witness and a bridgebuilder. Or as Professor Laura Holmes concludes, “She is a theologian and an evangelist, leading others to Jesus.”[ii] Her curiosity and her questions leave her open for more, wanting to share her experience, not keep it hidden away.
A lot of people right now are asking some version of the question, “Is the Lord among us or not?” We shouldn’t shame or belittle anyone who is asking this; we shouldn’t even shame or belittle ourselves when a question like that wells up in us. There are a lot of things we need to question in this world, and once any single area is declared off limits, then it becomes easier to be bullied into silence or submission. So we should always ask allthe questions, especially those without easy or satisfying answers. We need to create the answers together in community. We need to find the answers in the actions of people who are doing the work of peace and justice, of liberation and solidarity, the work that will bring us closer to the Beloved Community for which we long.
I have to believe that there have been people on the streets of Minneapolis who have been asking the question, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Mothers in Iran are asking that question today. Children in Gaza are asking that question. People living in poverty, in fear, in hunger all over the world and right here in our own neighborhoods.
The question is not the problem. If anything, the question can bring out the best in us. We the church can become part of the answer. We can show that the Lord is with those who are most oppressed by systems of injustice by working to dismantle those systems. We can show that the Lord is with those who are terrorized by war and violence by not letting war and violence be waged in our name.
Back in June, the magazine Christian Century published an article by Stanley Hauerwas and Bishop Andrew Doyle about the U.S. bombing of Iran. They reprinted it this week, as we are now in an even more serious, prolonged conflict. The article ends with these words,
“We will not bless these bombs. Our faith is deep and strong enough to bear the burden of not approving something morally while loving all people harmed on both sides and serving those who serve. We believe in a church that is against war in its theology and theory and practices peace in its life together. We believe in a Gospel that does not need missiles to make it real. And we believe in a Christ who still calls his followers to love beyond borders, beyond fear, and beyond the rationalizations of empire. Christ for the world, we sing! War is a failure of imagination. The church is supposed to be an alternative. Let us live like it.”[iii]
“The church is supposed to be an alternative. Let us live like it.” Yes! Friends, let us live as an alternative to the violence and oppression of empire. Let us be so focused on love and solidarity and showing up for those on the margins that nobody will have to ask whether the Lord is among us or not. Our lives, the life of the Church, can be a witness to a different way of being, a different way of embodying community.
Here in this church, instead of blessing bombs, we bless bicycles and solar panels and backpacks and babies. Instead of blessing a military occupation of our streets through silence and implied consent, we speak out and write policies and plan to become the helpers we need. Instead of blessing policies of discrimination, we bless bread and break it and share it. Instead of blessing the industries that extract and exploit, we bless wine and pour it out for the life of the world.
So, please, keep asking questions and no matter what don’t settle for easy answers. Ask questions of the government, of the church, of yourself. The Lord is among us indeed, among us in our questions, in our struggle, in the pain and in the blessings. Amen.
[i] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-john-45-42-2
[ii] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-john-45-42-7
[iii] https://www.christiancentury.org/features/church-cannot-bless-war
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