Quotes about Presence

If we cannot detect God's presence in the world, it may be that we have been looking in the wrong places.

Prayer means keeping company with God who is already present.

Always, no matter the circumstances, we have the assurance of "Immanuel," which simply means "God with us.

no one offers the name of a philosopher when I ask the question, "Who helped you most?" Most often they answer by describing a quiet, unassuming person. Someone who was there whenever needed, who listened more than talked, who didn't keep glancing down at a watch, who hugged and touched, and cried.

As Dennis Covington has written, Mystery is not the absence of meaning, but the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend. 7-20

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

Where is the church when it hurts? If the church is doing its job—binding wounds, comforting the grieving, offering food to the hungry—I don't think people will wonder so much where God is when it hurts. They'll know where God is: in the presence of God's people on earth.

When I am tempted to complain about God's lack of presence, I remind myself that God has much more reason to complain about my lack of presence.

God is already present, in the most unexpected places. We just need to make God visible.

Who helped you most? Most often they (suffering people) answer by describing a quiet, unassuming person. Someone who was there whenever needed, who listened more than talked, who didn't keep glancing down at a watch, who hugged and touched, and cried. In short, someone who was available, and came on the sufferer's terms and not their own.

My feelings of God's presence — or God's absence — are not the presence or the absence.

simple availability is the most powerful force we can contribute to help calm the fears of others. Instinctively, I shrink back from people who are in pain.