When one no longer
finds
God great,
one no longer
finds God anywhere;

God must be denied
or created.

–excerpt The Will To Power, II. bk. 3 §422 by Friedrich Nietzsche

Sunday morning, winter weather has moderated.  The sun is shining, a bonus for a mid-western winter’s day.  Very soon those with a lingering tie to religion, the felt possibility of a creator-God, of Christus Victor the resurrected Lord overseeing the affairs of humanity from the ramparts of heaven, – will arrive at houses of worship to pay tribute.  For many Biblical literalists worship means experiencing the immersive, charged anthems, the aspirational lyric of the hymns to the deity, to the church, then listening to a pastor extract “the truth” from God’s word.  If you subscribe to a “main-line” church-tradition, the house of worship experience focuses upon cultivating community, on exploration of what it means to be human and what is to be done given climate warming, globalization, and so on…  Worship has a different feel, a different axis according to the community within which one participates.

And then there are those of us here, at Starbucks.  I have no plans to be present at any house of worship today.  Is there any reason, a felt duty to pay dues to a deity?  You must answer on your own account. 

No one, no one at all can stand in for you, to settle that question.

So here I am at Starbucks, about to request a refill of my dark roast coffee, two packets of splenda, and creme.

I will settle for the warmth of this room, the conviviality of strangers who are becoming friends, the baristas whose names are familiar.  I cannot believe that God leaves a shadow.  Given the creative energy infusing all things, may I not feel reverence as a response to the aroma and flavor prepared, and arising from within this cup?

Is this what is meant by … or created?

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Sunday calls for a hymn does it not?!  I propose this as an apt accompaniment on our path today.  Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds.

Will you walk on by?  Will you walk away?  Will you call my name?