On my travels this week I joined the trustees of Waltham Forest YFC.

At the start of the evening Ruth led us in a time of worship. She placed various objects on the table and then, in turn, asked each of us ‘chose’ one of the objects and spend time thinking on how that object represented our relationship with God.

The objects were diverse and everyday item such as a cup, coaster, remote control, pair of glasses an so on.

This turned out to be a very powerful time as we were all able to see God clearly in the everyday, man-made world. For those of us living in urban situations where god may not immediately be obvious in the man made and concrete world it was fantastic to be able to remember that God is right at the centre of the synthetic the world, just as he so obviously is at the centre of the natural one.

Of the objects I ‘chose’ (by the time it was my turn there were only 2 objects left) the remote control. After looking and thinking I thought the following:

the numbers on the remote reminded me that we are not numbers to God. He sees us as individuals.

the remote allows us to watch different channels according to our different tastes and moods. God communicates to us in different ways according to who we are and how we are feeling and relating at the time

the mute button reminded me that God speaks in the silences

the off button indicated to me that we have the power to turn on and off the communication line that exists between us and God

This was a really simple, yet effective idea, for seeing God in the everyday objects that are all around us.