When I was a kid growing up outside of Philadelphia, I occasionally played Hide & Seek at a nearby cemetery. What a great place to play the game – with all those headstones and monuments to hide behind. It also gave the game a more eerie sense of the macabre, a real spooky experience.
One time I had been playing the game with some of my cousins. Now time has erased my memory concerning who was “It”. But when the counting had ended and the searching began – and ended, Sandy was still hiding – or so we thought. But half an hour later, she’s still missing. Did she get bored and go home? Had she fallen and gotten hurt – maybe even knocked unconscious? Did she leave to go looking for a bathroom? We had no clue – until – we heard what sounded like a muffled voice, though in the throes of panic.
We followed the voice, which drew us up to this one, massive mausoleum. Now either the dead had been raised that evening, or Sandy was inside. The door was ajar just enough so we could pry it open – much to Sandy’s relief. She explained that the door had been partially open, so she went inside to hide. But in pulling the door somewhat closed, it swung further than she anticipated. So there she was, inside the mausoleum, dying to get out!
Last Sunday we began a sermon series entitled, “The Great Questions of the Bible”. This week we turn back the clock to the days of our most distant ancestors, to our very 1st set of parents, to Adam and Eve. Now you may not know this, but they invented the game of Hide & Seek, and God was “It”. Please come this Sunday when we intend to ask and answer the question actually posed by God Himself: “Where Are You?” Come learn why God was crying out, “Come out, come out wherever you are!”
