Why does our church put so much time and energy into an event like “Trunk and Treat?” Is it to promote tooth decay for the benefit of our dentists? To force our loved ones to clean out their cluttered trunks? To entice the clouds to rain us out just for spite? Probably none of the above—our desire is to build relationships with people so we can introduce them to Jesus.

In The Message of the Living God, Peter Lewis asks the question: “How can we know God?”

Woody Allen, in Love and Death, says at one point: “If God would only speak to me—just once. If he would only cough. If I could just see a miracle. If I could see a burning bush or the seas part. Or my Uncle Sasha pick up the check.”

There, I think, you have the mixture of timeless longing and trendy cynicism which characterizes much of the Western mind-set and personality today. Allen wants God—but on his own terms. And God won’t play. Allen wants God the conversationalist: “If God would only speak to me—just once.” God has, in fact, given him a Bible recording 1,400 years of speech, but a cough for Woody outweighs a covenant with Abraham or even a Calvary for Christ.

He wants God the conjuror (“If I could just see a miracle”) but gives no guarantees he’d do anything about it. He probably wants God the friend and God the therapist too, but all he has is human beings: commonplace, flawed, stubborn, exploitive. Like his Uncle Sasha, who always lets other people pick up the bill.

How then can we know God and how can we know that we know him, if not the Woody Allen way?

Of course, God has revealed Himself in creation, in history, and in our consciences. Because sin has marred creation, warped history, and distorted our consciences, we are not capable of knowing Him simply through those general forms of revelation. God has acted and spoken and sent His Son that we might know Him personally through turning to Him and trusting in Him.

Of all the ways God could have chosen to tell His story and to make His appeal, He has chosen us. We are His ambassadors to pass along what we have experienced. He loves through us; He leads through us; He speaks through us. We represent Him! We’ll either do that on the parking lot Sunday afternoon . . . or we’ll just pass out some candy.

Let’s make it count!