Hide and Seek was a popular game when I was a child and it still is. Someone would count to ten and I would run and hide in a spot where I was certain that my seeker would not find me. Usually, I was discovered and the game continued with the seeker becoming sought. It is enjoyable to hide and believe that no one can see you. We older folks hide on a daily basis. Often we keep our true feelings and thoughts and ideas to ourselves as a form of hiding them for fear of being not accepted or perhaps even ridiculed. Have you ever wondered where are all of the brilliant thinkers when it comes to politics? Most have chosen to hide from what should be the honorable civic duty of serving in view of the glaring lights of public scrutiny and the herculean amount of money that it takes to conduct a campaign.

We are good hiders in church. Offices of service and leadership are begging for someone to hear the call and say…’Here am I Lord…send me!’ A bit of whispering and criticism we engage in when we disagree with those who did not hide…but we call it constructive.

‘Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples,’

‘Now Peter sat outside the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him saying, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.” And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl said to those who were there, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.” But again he denied with an oath, “I do not know the man!” And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.” Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the Man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.’

Let George or Jane do it…we say with some smug satisfaction. We bemoan the shape that our society is in as we sit in the Peanut Gallery munching some roasted peanuts. We hide as we are positive that there are others who are more suited for the job…as the problems keep expanding.

‘As long as I am unseen and unheard I and my loved ones will be safe from the fascism and despots and narcissistic dictators…they will not know my true feelings and thus the storm will pass over me,’ we say as the dark clouds gather and we read the handwriting on the wall…