Fr. J. D. Ousley

It happened almost every weekend. Early Saturday morning, the jackhammers began on Madison Avenue.

The digging wore on throughout the weekend, only stopping when the streets were filled with the cars of the Monday rush hour. On Sundays, I would try to negotiate with the crews to get the church an hour of quiet between 11 and 12 o'clock.

This went on for years. A couple of times, Madison Avenue was repaved -- yet the new asphalt was barely dry before the drills began again.

Only this spring did I finally learn why we had all this construction. Some corporations had made deals with New York City to allow them to install lines and cables for various kinds of communications. The city couldn't limit the drilling because the law guaranteed different companies access -- and there were many businesses who wanted to "wire" Manhattan.

But we could say that there was also a higher purpose for tearing up the streets: so that human beings could communicate.

It's not a coincidence that our parish is now equipped with phones and computers and pagers and answering machines -- ready to receive calls and messages and email. We even have newly installed lines that allow our computers to be "always on:" always receiving messages.

If we value human communication, digging up the streets is worth it. We want to communicate with each other. We want to be present to each other.

Now, of course, "presence" is one of the great themes of the Bible. The author of Psalm 51, for example, says to God, "Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your holy spirit from me."

One of the metaphysical categories that defines God is "omnipresence." The infinite God can't be limited to any single part of creation; if God were so limited, he wouldn't be God.

Yet the divine presence given by theology is very different from the human presence given by technology. While technological communication may be astonishing, scientists understand how it works. And I, a non-expert, know when someone has answered my cellphone call. On the other hand, I'm not sure what communication will result from my prayers!

Discerning the divine presence is neither certain nor easy. God rarely presents himself in clear digital sound!

Yet there are other ways for God to be present besides messages from on high. For the people of Israel, God was supremely present in their way of life.

This way of life was a special gift. The "law" of Israel wasn't oppressive; on the contrary, as today's Psalm says, "Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked," for "their delight is in the law of the Lord, and they meditate on his law day and night."

And Christians believe that, for them, "the law and the prophets" are supremely expressed in the life and teaching of Jesus.

So we, too, "delight in the law of the Lord," because we know that in that manner of life, Christ becomes present to us.

Let me give a simple example of presence within practice. I was recently given a spiritual book written for a popular audience, and one of the authors in the book tells of a woman who was battling cancer.

The woman's doctors and nurses were touched by her good humor and positive outlook. She attributed her optimism to her ability to get outside herself. Even when she was confined to her hospital bed, the woman said, she tried to listen to others and be hopeful.

The woman later said that she found that "thinking of others rather than spending a lot of time thinking about myself played a huge role in my recovery."

Now while we may have heard similar advice before, we may still be glad to be reminded that people who have suffered a tragedy are often better off when they get busy. People who are depressed or mournful may be helped if they find something to do, because their activities will take their minds off their problems.

The Church incorporates this common insight into our spiritual life. Every day, Christians look for the divine presence through action.

Every day, Christians have something "to do." At the very least, we can pray for others. And most of us are also able to help those in need and serve the church. We may not appreciate, though, that such actions communicate the divine. Here, Christianity is practical. Our faith recognizes that mountaintop revelations of God are rare; few of us are able to spend much time alone on in the wilderness!

Instead, the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation teaches that God is found in the daily-ness of life. The Presence of God is reached in work, and service, and prayer, and a thousand other activities that are possible for ordinary people, every ordinary day.

"Delight in the law of the Lord" doesn't find joy in legalism. Legalism is the bane of all life-affirming religion because it prizes obedience to rules over finding God's will.

But there's nothing wrong with freely choosing to "follow the will of God." If you want to look for God's presence by following ancient spiritual practices, doing your duty will become a delight.

Take the case of helping someone who is difficult to help. Not an unusual challenge for Christians in this city of independent people!

If such assistance sometimes tests our patience, still, following God's law and helping a crotchety executive who doesn't recognize her needs can be uniquely rewarding. We attend to problems besides our own; we communicate with another person's heart and soul.

In this way, and at many other times in the course of daily life, we find the presence of God in the presence of God's people. And we discover that, spiritually, the lines of communication are always on!

Amen.