Surely The Lord Is In This Place

What follows is a transcript of Pastor Gina’s message from our Sunday morning gathering. We share these messages on our blog for those who appreciate the opportunity to read the sermon again—whether for deeper reflection, personal study, or a quieter moment of prayer and introspection. As you read, we invite you to linger with the words, notice what resonates, and remain open to how God may be speaking to you through them.

by Pastor Gina Johnson

Okay, so several years ago, there was an experiment that was done in Washington, D.C., and it was involving this great violinist. He's an amazing violinist. His name is Joshua Bell, and one day he decided to go into a crowded subway station, and this was a planned experiment, and he went there and he played some of the most beautiful pieces of music on the violin, and he played for around 45 minutes or so, and he was just wearing ordinary clothes, and he just came, opened up his violin, and started playing.

Well, so many people, and I mean so many, I mean thousands of people who passed through in that time, paid no attention. Some of them didn't even slow down for a second. There were a few that looked and kept moving.

There were some children that wanted to stop, but whoever was with them, their parents, would hurry them along, and so, like I said, after about 45 minutes, he packed up his violin and he left. Well, what's funny was just earlier that week, some of the same people who walked by him in that subway station paid hundreds of dollars to see him perform in a packed concert hall, but in that moment, nobody recognized it because everybody was in the rush of life, and the question that came from that experiment, it was fascinating. It was like, if people don't expect to encounter beauty in a particular place, how often do they fail to recognize it when it's right in front of them, and you know, I think that question goes far beyond music because one of the greatest struggles, I think, that we have as human beings is not the absence of miracles in our life, but it's the absence of stopping to recognize them, that miracles are constantly taking place around us and we fail to see them.

You know, sometimes we are so rushed and so distracted that eventually all we're thinking about is what's next on the schedule. We're thinking about the things that we're worried about, that we're emotionally tied to, and we get to a moment of almost becoming numb to outside things beyond our routine. Our routine is just our way of life.

It's what we do all the time, and it doesn't mean that we're not laughing here or smiling there, but even that is just part of the routine. We're not really feeling it. You know, there are times where you think you're walking around outside and how many of us ever stop anymore, say, oh look, there's some new flowers there, or oh, when did that change? You know, it was interesting because I remember driving down the street when the new car wash opened up, and I said, oh, we got a new car wash, and I don't remember which one of my children it was.

It's like, mommy, that's been there. It's like, oh, okay, and that right there is one of those examples. You know, the other day, I walked in the office, and Virginia, as usual, was glowing and bright and just full of that beautiful vibrancy, and I was like, did you get glasses? And I was like, were you wearing those on Sunday? And how funny was that? Because it's like, I interact with Virginia all the time, and it's just amazing how much we miss when we're just A, check, B, check, C, check, and just going and going and going, and it's not so bad to be checking your boxes, but are you remembering to pause in between? Are you remembering to notice things? Because when we stop noticing things such as people, such as flowers, such as just little simple things, art, the sky, you know, you walk into the doctor's office every day, and you probably don't pay any mind to what's playing or what's there because you're just here to get through that appointment, but it's interesting because when we stop noticing those little things, what does that mean about how have we stopped noticing the divine? How have we stopped noticing how the divine's presence is everywhere around us? Today, we're going to be looking at a story of Jacob, and this story is so meaningful because it really applies to where we can be when we get caught up in the rush of life.

He's not in a temple. He's not standing somewhere leading worship. He's not having this epiphany, this spiritual moment.

He's actually traveling. He's in a time of transition in his life, and he's uncertain about his future, and he does something that's common in that time, and he decides to stop and take a rest. He actually is tired, so he lays down and he places his head on a rock, and that can be an ordinary setting for someone who is traveling from here to there, entering to new spaces, but it's not so ordinary what then happens.

We're going to be in Genesis 28. So, Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night because the sun had set.

Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place, and he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie. I will give to you and to your offspring, and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.

Know I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

And that concludes our scripture reading. He says, surely the Lord was in this place, and I did not know it. Man, when I was standing here earlier reading that, I got goosebumps on my arms, because it just hit me in that humbling moment of how many times have we been so in the human experience that we didn't feel the Lord's presence, and not in that hopeless sort of where are you God, but we didn't even give God any space within what we were doing, within what we were experiencing, because we were just too caught up in the movement.

You know, Jacob's realization isn't that all of a sudden God appeared. His realization is, surely God has always been right here with me, and I did not know it. His presence has always been here, but it took Jacob becoming aware.

It took Jacob slowing down to recognize that God is here. And that makes me pause. It makes me think, you know, how much of our life really moves that way? How many moments have we moved through that we didn't even see the beauty of what's going on? How many conversations in this past week had a holy presence within it, and you didn't even notice it? How many of your ordinary days that you walk through are actually very sacred, and it wasn't until you were in the future looking back at them and saying, oh yeah, I should have seen that.

I didn't catch that. You know, it's interesting as we've been saying goodbye at the end of service, you know, I go back there and everyone comes out and gives hugs, and some of the hugs I'm receiving are just a little longer, maybe a second, maybe two. They're a little tighter, maybe just a little more of a squeeze, and you know, it made me think, shame on you, Gina.

You are hugging people more so and more intentional than you used to. Why? Because you're leaving, you know, and it brings me back to that, you know, no, we should be hugging each other. We should be telling each other, I love you.

We should be present to the divine, and it doesn't have to be some gigantic extravagant miracle to see the divine. You know, in the older spiritual traditions, they often spoke about awakening not being something that you received that was new, not the something you just found, but it was being able to see things differently. It was awakening in yourself that now you're seeing beyond the surface, beyond the outer appearance.

You're starting to look at your ordinary moments throughout your days, and you're recognizing there's something more sacred going on here, that every moment of my life is weaving a divine tapestry. You know, I think that's why last week as we were celebrating Pentecost, I think that's why it's so important, because my message last week was saying, you know, it wasn't about all the signs and wonders. It was that recognition that the divine was not hidden from them.

The divine was not exclusive. The divine was not something that they had to wait for because it was reserved. The divine was always with them, and it took them being in that point of pausing, of wondering, what's next? Where do we go from here? Should I be happy right now? Should I be sad right now? What should I be doing? And instead, in that stillness moment that they were all experiencing, God was there.

The spirit was moving through human life itself, and the spirit does that each and every day. You know, one of the dangers that I find in my own life is the blur. Have you experienced the blur? Your days blur together.

Your conversations blur together. The times you went here or did this, they all seem to blur together. I think I had a moment with Dorothea in the car the other day, and she was saying something, and she's like, yeah, well, today's Thursday.

I said, is it Thursday? No, no, it's not Thursday. It's Wednesday. She said, no, mommy, it's Thursday.

And so I was like, no, no, no, we're going to study tonight. It's Wednesday. Well, it doesn't matter.

It was Wednesday, but her and I both, just in the passing and everything going on in life, we fell into the blur. And if you continue to fall into the blur of life, eventually people become asleep while their bodies are still moving actively all the time. And that's why I think Jacob's story matters so much.

You see, Jacob wasn't in a place of perfection. Everything wasn't figured out. As a matter of fact, he was uncertain as to what was next, but he encountered God because he was still long enough to recognize God.

There's another story in scripture, and it's Hagar. And Hagar is in the wilderness, and she is convinced there is nothing left for her. She is desperate, and she is there in the wilderness, and all of a sudden, God opens her eyes, and there is a well nearby.

Did you hear that? It wasn't all of a sudden God made a well appear. All of a sudden, God opened her eyes, and there was a well nearby. It's amazing when everything gets stripped away from us, what we're able to see was already there.

But the funny thing is we don't have to wait for things to get there to feel God's presence, to recognize the divine is always with us. You know, there's another story. It's when Elisha is just terrified because he's having to say goodbye to Elijah, you know, and he looks up, and what does he see? Chariots of fire.

And again, the divine was already present, but his awareness changed. His ability to not be caught in the situation right in front of him, but to look beyond into what God was doing. You know, in spiritual life, it's challenging to live with a greater awareness when we keep getting pulled back into those exhausting places.

And it's tricky, you know, because people say if you don't treat your body good, your body is eventually going to put you down. It's going to say, oh, you don't want to sit down? You don't want to rest? Well, guess what? Now you're going to. But let's talk about that for a minute, because how many of us go and go and go till we get to the point of being exhausted? So we take that forced rest, right? That forced reset.

And what do we do as soon as that reset's over? We go right back to it. So what did we learn in that? Was it a genuine reset? Was it a genuine opportunity to start all over? You know, we wait for burnout, and we wait for grief. We wait for something to happen that's huge, and then we collapse into it.

And let's just be honest, most of us come up out of it just to start again on the same path that's going to bring us back to the same place. How funny is that? Maybe if we started to recognize the miracles, the blessings, the presence of God in every aspect of our life, and actually pause, you know? Instead of saying, gosh, but I got to get going. Just pause for a moment.

Spend an extra second in the laughter. Spend an extra second in the conversation, in the friendship. Spend an extra moment listening to that song.

You ever pull into a place and your favorite song is on, but you're like, no, no, no, I got to do this, this, and this? No, just sit there for a moment and listen to it and feel it. Think about what memory it brings to your mind when you're listening to it. What person was with you the last time you heard that song that maybe they're not with you now, or maybe they won't ever be with you physically again, but taking a moment and holding them in your heart and recognizing what a great blessing it was to have that time.

G.K. Chesterton says, the world will never starve for want of wonders, but only for want of wonder. You know, that's the funny side of it, is how often do we get curious? You know, how often do we get in that space of like, you know, I'm not going to succumb to all the noise. This is not a question of whether or not miracles exist.

It's can you recognize them, or are miracles only, hey, the diagnosis was clear. Oh my gosh, it turned out this happened, and the tornado came through, but my house was was fine. And those are miracles when we keep defining them in that big grandiose way.

But what about the miracle of life itself? You know, sometimes I'm sitting there, I'm like, the human body is extraordinary. I can burn my tongue and feel like I can't eat anything for the following 30 minutes to an hour. I wake up the next day, no idea I burnt my tongue.

Isn't that interesting? You know, I'm just fascinated when I'm starting to look at all the changes as I continue in my life and thinking, wow, our human bodies in themselves are miraculous. You know, we went outside one day, and the trees were all green. We went outside another day, and they were orange and yellow and red.

You know, your grass was mowed, and the next day, all of these little dandelions popped up. Where did they come from? Just like that. Just like that.

And those are the things that we no longer get astonished by. We no longer get excited by. But those are the things that tell us the divine is everywhere in creation, in each other, in the sounds we hear.

Yeah, sure, the music that's been composed and played, but what about that sweet song of the birds that we've been hearing since spring's been here? For the first time, I saw Mick and Vicki Dougan's backyard. Talk about a miracle. It is beautiful, and if you guys haven't seen it, well, don't tell them I sent you, but go see it because it'll capture you.

It'll cause you to pause, not because they've landscaped their yard great, but because you see family. You see creation. You see nature, and if you get Mick talking, he'll tell you about the animals he shot.

So, you know, I mean, you get to see it all, but it's miraculous, and it's enough to remind me that, man, I need to pause more. It's funny when everything becomes so ordinary and automatic, but the scripture, the Holy Spirit, music, our friends, our family, they keep inviting us back into life, but we're running and running and running. It reminds me of when I was a single mom and Isabella would ask me, can you do this? Can you play? Can you do this? Can you? Not right now, baby.

Not right now, but what was calling me? The dryer buzzer? I was a single mom that didn't have a job. I spent my time with my daughter. It was like, no, no, no.

We have to have lunch at this time so you can nap at this time. Boy, I sure miss that almost 25-year-old right now that I can't just do that with whenever I want. Miracles are not always the, wow, it's all better.

This is a miracle in itself. You know, sometimes we just miss that. We miss the idea because we're so caught up in everything that's not working.

We don't pause and celebrate what is working, and what is always working is the love and the light of God that's in each and every one of us. It's so beautiful, and that's why I'm always saying, hey, pray, meditate, listen to something, take a walk, call an old friend, and have a conversation. Go fishing. Go hunting. Or maybe you're that person who likes to put in earbuds and ride around on your riding lawnmower and cut the grass nice and slow so you can just enjoy it, but do it. Do it.

Don't just leave here and hug me this morning. Hug each other and recognize the miracle of friendship and family, because all you got to do, and I don't do it, turn on the news. Spend some time looking at politics.

You know, go to some of the neighborhoods that seem a little sketchy, and then turn around and look at your life and see the miracle. I was having a tough moment because I had a migraine and life combined together, and you mix those two together, and you don't see the miracles, and it gets a little messy. My father's significant other, she texted me, and she was just encouraging me, and she said, you know, you can't see the sun when you're, you can't see the sunrise when you're facing the west, you know, and it's like, yeah, sometimes you just gotta stop, pause, and look the other direction.

Jacob, lying there, discovered the divine again, not because the divine ever left him, because he left the presence of the divine. The world was all of a sudden far more alive than he ever realized, and he was far more alive than he realized. You know, in the uncertainty and the transitions, the exhaustion, the divine presence did not abandon Jacob.

The divine presence does not abandon us. He's always right there. Jacob said, surely the Lord was in this place, and I did not know it.

Wow. So maybe my challenge for you this week is really simple. It's just to move through life a little slower, to take a little more time with the people that you love. To take a moment and notice the beauty before it passes you by, to get into a space where you can recognize that you're saying that surely the Lord was in this place, and I did not know it, where we can look at one another and say, surely the Lord is in this place, and man, I know it.

Before I ask you all to pray with me, since I'm going to be leaving, and I'm not going to be here at the end, I am taking advantage of every single Sunday I have, so let me say this to you all. May the blessing of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest mightily upon each and every one of us, and as we go from this place, may we recognize that surely the Lord is in every place that we step. Have not just a good week, everybody. Have an amazing week, everybody.

Please pray with me. Our Almighty God, you have blessed us with so much abundance, so much activity, so much entertainment, so many people, so many places to be, but the greatest blessing you gave us was you, was us, was the presence of Christ Jesus, was the Holy Spirit, and so remind us, God.

Remind us how to stop and lay our head on the rock and see the angels ascending and descending. Remind us, God, that every moment is a miracle, that every conversation, every situation has a divine blessing, and part of that blessing is us being there. God, we are so grateful as you continue to move and work in us.

May we be the light and love of Christ Jesus and that presence in which everyone can see and feel your love. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.