How long since you have played the game Hide and Seek?
As a youngster I remember how I would love to join in a game anywhere, if invited. But adults don’t play Hide and Seek, not for fun anyway.
No matter what rules you played with there was always someone who always hid so good that nobody could find him After a while you would just give up on them and go off to something else. Sooner or later they would show up all mad because we didn’t keep looking for them. They would say, “It’s Hide and Seek, not Hide and Give up!” We’d all yell about who made the rules and how we wouldn’t play with them any more if they didn’t get it straight. But no matter what that person would still hide too good again.
How many of us have seen someone hide and we give the kids that are looking a clue where the person is hidden? We tell the others so that the kid can be found. As we grow up we can still play this game.
Not wanting anyone to know about that illness, about that trouble, about the things that are happening at home, we hide. We pretend it is not happening, we put on our smiles and tell everyone that things are ‘great’. If we think we can be found we avoid people we avoid the place where we might be found out.
But as Jesus tells us it is time to come home. The prodigal son came home and was welcomed with open arms. The older brother was jealous but he is invited to join in the party. The Father invites all of us to be found. To be in that place where we have nothing to hide because we have been found.
Pastor Andrew
