Easter 27 Are We Really Seeing and Hearing?

[HKHaugan]

The last two mornings on Sugar Mountain, July 5th and 6th, 47F., clear sky, the sun rising over the ridge across the valley, the fullness of the surrounding greenery, birds gathering their feed and a great weekend to celebrate the Lord's hand having initiated the beginning of a nation dedicated to Him. Isn't that what this nation we live in is all about really? Mountains give you that sense of formation, something being formed out of nothing. Creation. They force you to look up, see the sky, behold the heavens and the majesty behind them. When you read the Psalms written in the high country of the Judean wilderness you can almost feel the passion recognizing and reflecting on the awesomeness of God.

That passion is something needed by every disciple in the present. Unlike the people in Jesus' time there are so many things in our age that distract us from practicing our discipleship. We live in an age of options, multiple options. Name a profession, an activity, a field of study and you will find an expanding set of areas that are multiply subdivided. It is precisely for that reason we need to give the unchanging simple truth of Jesus in the middle of a world that is providing division as a way of life. We need to pray for that passion in the midst of a fractured society. The beautiful part about being a disciple of Jesus is that He is the unchanging truth to expose the distractions of this world just for what they really are, distractions. He is still our central message and the only One who can reduce our attraction to distraction.

When you begin seeing things through spiritual eyes and hear with spiritual ears, the sights and sounds declare themselves as entry ways into the Kingdom of God or are harbingers of a more ominous villain seeking to distract us from the Lord God. This is when the light of the sun changes into the true light of the Son that lights every man's path that they may walk confidently into each next moment. An old love ballad crept from my memory into my humming and, remembering its words, it rang spiritually with new meaning and new life. What once would merely have been a passing thought of dancing in the 50's, it sprang newly as a reminder of God's ever present assurance of His feeling for each of us. Think for a moment and place your self on a Judean hillside 2000 years ago as a psalmist listening to the voice of God in the wind blowing through the grain field and hear Him say.......

I'll be loving you always
With a love that's true always
When the things you've planned
Need a helping hand
I will understand always
Always
Days may not be fair always
That's when Ill be there always
Not for just an hour
Not for just a day
Not for just a year
But always

“Always” by Irving Berlin