At Purim, God hides. The Name of God appears nowhere in the Megillah -- though divine presence is woven through the story for those with eyes to see.

At Pesach, God is everywhere in the story. "And the Holy One of Blessing brought us out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm..." There is nothing hidden about God during the Passover story.

In the shift between the two holidays I see a familiar oscillation. Sometimes God seems absent, or at the very least hidden. Hester panim, the mystics say -- "the Face is hidden."

Just as, at moon-dark, the moon's face is hidden from view though we know she still orbits our earth -- in that same way, sometimes God's face is hidden from view. Hidden from us.

Sometimes God is so present it seems there ought to be trumpets and fanfare. Beams of light stream through a break in the clouds -- a mighty waterfall thunders -- a baby is born and new life enters the world -- one comes face-to-face with another being, animal or human, and a spark of connection becomes manifest -- old bonds shatter and the heart becomes free...

And maybe sometimes we hide ourselves from God. We turn away and hide our faces. When we've done something we regret, something which brings us shame. When we can't bear the luminous, the numinous, because we feel too fragile. When we can't imagine that we could be forgiven. Though as an old Sufi story has it, even when we think we're hiding, there is One Who always sees us.

And even when God seems to be hiding, that One is still present in our lives. Even when God is as hidden as the moon, as hidden as the Afikoman we'll wrap in a napkin and conceal. We hide the Afikoman so that it can be found. Maybe God, too, hides in order to be found. Hide and seek. Come and find Me. Yearn for me, and I will be revealed.

This post is part of #blogExodus, a daily carnival of posts / tweets / status updates relating to themes of Passover and Exodus, created by ImaBima. Find other posts via the #blogExodus hashtag.