Though we may feel uniquely plagued by a sense of God's absence or hiddenness, this is actually the primary experience of humankind throughout history, even for those in the time of the Old and New Testaments. Rather than only seeking for God in the most likely places--Scripture, liturgy, creeds--and constantly asking the question, Why?, to no avail, perhaps we should begin to look for God in the unlikely places of human suffering and pain and to prepare ourselves for the silence and felt absence of God. For, as in the passage from the Gospel of Matthew, it is to the ones who prepare for God's delay that God comes. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
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