In this Pastor’s Corner, I want to speak about the first reading of this Sunday (Genesis 3:8-15). It’s a lovely piece of conversation between God and Adam which happens after the disobedience of man and the subsequent realisation of his mistake. Adam and Eve take plight from the presence of God and God comes after them, as He always does. He calls out to them and asks this important question: “Where are you?”

It’s the very first question God asks Adam. In fact, it’s the first question God asks in scripture. That suggests to me that it’s a pretty important question. This question intrinsically suggests that God is always on the look out for us, He cares for us, He is concerned about us. And the answer by Adam, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself”, suggests how our conscience condemns us after we have sinned. The recourse should not be HIDING from God but “I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,” (Luke 15:18).

Adam and Eve hid behind inadequate, self-made coverings to mask their sin and shame. We too often hide behind self-made righteousness in order to make ourselves appear more acceptable than we really are. If you want to change, to really change—which, by the way, is the mark of true repentance—then you must hide in God alone.

It’s not enough just to repent of overt sins. It’s not enough to say, “I admit to my wrong behaviors.” All kinds of people repent that way, especially religious people with an image to maintain.

A Christian doesn’t just repent of their outward sins, but also of their attempts to hide behind shoddy self-made righteousness. Stop hiding in your effort. Hide in God.

Where are you hiding today?

Here’s the second way I want to think about that question. Where are you hiding today? What parts of your life are you hiding and why are you hiding? In what ways do you hide? Do you hide through busyness, work, taking care of the kids, distractions, the things that get you high – shopping, alcohol, drugs, sex, the internet? 

Do you hide in your preoccupations, dreams and fantasies. Do you hide because you are afraid, embarrassed, because you feel some guilt or shame? Are you hiding from the hard decisions in life you just don’t want to deal with or from those difficult relationships and circumstances you just don’t know how to deal with? Are you hiding from your past or maybe your future?

That’s where Adam and Eve are today. They are naked and afraid. They are hiding among the trees of the garden. They’re trying to protect themselves, eliminate vulnerability and risk. They’re trying to cover up in such a way that they won’t be seen or noticed. 

They think they are hiding from God but my experience of hiding, and maybe this is true for you too, is that I’m not really hiding from God or other people. I’m hiding from myself. Every time I hide from myself I live, to use an image from this Sunday’s gospel (Mark 3:20-35), as a divided house. The house of my life is divided. I live with a part of me here and a part of me there, but there’s not the whole of me anywhere. 

I wonder what hiding looks like in your life today. And, once again, as you ponder that don’t make it a conclusion or a judgment. It’s just information. Let it inform you, offer you new opportunities and possibilities. Let it teach and guide you.