A few weeks ago I attended a candlelight rooftop concert in the West Loop. The audience was masked-up, 6-feet apart, outside listening to LIVE music. I didn’t realize how much I missed live music until it was happening.

It was an evening of storytelling and song - tracing the evolution of soul, jazz, and blues. The band began with reading Genesis 1 and performed songs from “Go Down Moses (Let My People Go)” to “Doo Wop (That Thing).” People were snapping fingers, clapping hands, and we were even encouraged to dance (alone, standing in place).

Taking it all in, I just kept thinking: My soul needed this.

I’m not sure this band would describe their live music experience as “spiritual”, but that’s what it was. I’m learning we were never meant to bucket parts of life as either “spiritual” or “secular” - that was never God’s plan. To do so means:
 

• God only cares about music sung at church, not on a rooftop in the West Loop

• God only cares about my morning “quiet time”, not about dinner and wine with friends

• God only cares about volunteer work, not about the job I get paid to do

But this is a lie.

God cannot be compartmentalized. God cares and is involved with life as a whole, not just the stuff we would label as “spiritual.”

While reading the book “Garden City”, I learned there is no word for “spiritual” in the Hebrew language or in the Old Testament - which is what Jesus was raised on. This is because in a Hebrew worldview, all of life is spiritual.
 

“I think if you asked Jesus about his spiritual life, he would have looked at you confused. My guess is he would have asked, ‘What do you mean by my spiritual life? You mean my life?'"

In a time when gathering in community groups is difficult and physically stepping into a church building is near impossible, it seems our “traditional” ways of encountering God are no longer an option. Our “spiritual practices” are being tested.

The year 2020 has given me a lot of reasons for asking the question, “God, where the heck* are you in this?!” (*sometimes using stronger curse words, as necessary)

But in order for God to answer that question, I need to wake up to him all around me. Just because the things I would normally deem “spiritual” are becoming less and less available, doesn’t mean God isn’t at work.

If something is good… if something spreads hope, love, joy, and peace… I want to give the credit to God - even if it’s something I wouldn’t normally see God’s hand in. No matter how simple or un-traditional it might seem.

For example, lately I’m waking up to God’s presence in:
 

• Long walks with my dog (even though he’s usually walking me)

• The fall foliage, which can be seen out every window of our condo

• Peaceful protests around my city for racial justice

• A good book, one that gets me in bed early and keeps me up a little late

• Patio beers with my husband, especially the pumpkin kind

What’s good in your life right now? What’s bringing you hope, love, joy, peace?