If God Feels Far Away, Who Moved?

Many years ago, I read the following question that was posted in some sermon or another and eventually made its way to the internet:
"If God feels far away from you right now, who moved?"
I admit that I've used that question in the past during sermons or talks. It's a pretty church-y question, but there's some depth to it, despite that fact. The question implies something about the unmoving and annoyingly present presence of God all around us.
It also implies that whatever we perceive as the absence of God is most likely formed and informed by our own inability to see God at work around us.
And so many Christians spend all of their energy trying to perceive God on their own terms. They lift up all sorts of man-made doctrines, dogmas, rules, and regulations that they falsely believe will usher them into the presence of the Divine somehow--as long as they can adhere to them.
Some Christians spend so much time doing things in order to experience God that they lose…
"If God feels far away from you right now, who moved?"
I admit that I've used that question in the past during sermons or talks. It's a pretty church-y question, but there's some depth to it, despite that fact. The question implies something about the unmoving and annoyingly present presence of God all around us.
It also implies that whatever we perceive as the absence of God is most likely formed and informed by our own inability to see God at work around us.
And so many Christians spend all of their energy trying to perceive God on their own terms. They lift up all sorts of man-made doctrines, dogmas, rules, and regulations that they falsely believe will usher them into the presence of the Divine somehow--as long as they can adhere to them.
Some Christians spend so much time doing things in order to experience God that they lose…