A Curious Bodega: Open or God?

Are You Open? Sorry, We're God!

I had to share this unusual shop sign, which I passed by last month in the upstate town of Troy, NY. I was walking around the downtown area and spotted this little bodega, which was closed. But instead of there being a "CLOSED" sign, there was this crudely made sign right smack in the middle of the door that read "YHWH." I'm not even sure what kind of social commentary to add here, because this totally surprised me. "YHWH?" I mean, if you weren't expecting it, and couldn't read Hebrew, my guess is that you might think it reads "CLOSED" in another language. But I'm sure there is some deep theology going on here, but it is clearly esoteric, and cannot be had by us mortals in our quotidian rummaging in upstate cities.

I know that Augustine said something about God's hiddenness and presence being wrapped up into one. But clearly, God...or YHWH is not hidden here, for our bodega friends. Maybe this is some sort of anti-theft device: "Yeah, we're closed, but guess what? There's a God of the Hebrew Bible hiding inside, watching you!" Maybe the sign is supposed to read like a "Beware of Dog!" sign. Except...yes, I'm sorry to say... it's really "Beware of God!"

It's your call, readers.