God is both hidden and located in Word and Sacrament. This means that the church, where Word and Sacrament ministry occurs, is the locus of God’s presence in this world. God has not promised to be present on the golf course. God has made no vow to meet you in the radiant beauty of the sunrise or the stillness of the evening sunset. God never claimed that He would be present by means of some inner feeling in your gut. Rather, God has promised to be present in the Word and Sacrament ministry of the church: “For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20).
