"I SEEEEE YOUUUU!"

“But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.”
(Matthew 13:16-17 from The Message)

Once again, I saw the man along my way to work.  He is always seated on a stump or a large plastic can, saying a few words to himself, smiling a sweet smile.  I have noticed that he wears a toboggan in all seasons (a toque, for my Canadian friends).  I have wondered what he sounds like, what his smile looks like up close, if his eyes twinkled.  I wonder no more.

One night this past week, I met a friend for supper.   We walked into the restaurant and there HE sat!  Toboggan on … smile ready for the next person to walk through the doors … eyes twinkling.  His laugh was deep and that of a blend of Jim the Shoeshine Man, years ago, standing at his shoeshine stand on a downtown corner of my hometown and Uncle Remus on a much loved story-book album (both men, I loved in my childhood).   The man pointed to my friend and said with great joy, “HEY, it’s good to see you again!” She smiled and said, “Hi! It’s good to see you (although she had never seen him before).”  When the man smiled, his cheeks became more pronounced, making his eyes squint and twinkle even more.  He asked if she was OK.  “Yes, I’m doing well.”   “Good, good,” he said as he shook his head from side to side and smiled as if praising God for that good news.  He asked if she was still going to church.  When she said YES, he said, “Good, good, I’ll keep praying for you.”  My friend thanked him.

Then, he looked my way, pointing and said, “Who is this?”   My friend said, “Oh, she is my friend.”  The man’s smile couldn’t have grown any bigger.  He held up his large hand and said, “Hi FRIEND!  I see you!” Then, he put his hands up to his eyes as if they were binoculars and said with a huge belly-laugh, “I SEEEEEEE YOUUUUUU!!!!!!”   For some reason, my response was a reciprocated smile and the words, “I see you too!”   “Good, good,” he said with a laugh that echoed with joy.

My friend and I were ushered to our table and our thoughts turned to the news of our families and work and life in general.   The man had come and gone with a take-out box in hand, leaving his smile and laughter bouncing around in my memory.

The following day, as I drove by him on my way to work, I could “SEEEEEE HIMMMM” in a way that I had never seen this invisible man on the streets before.  I could see the twinkle in his eyes in a different way, hear the laughter that surely followed his great big smile, hear the things that were important to him such as a person doing well or going to church or prayer.  I knew that one of the most important things for him was for someone to “SEEEEE” another person.   He taught me that with his “hand binoculars”, seeing me at a time when it was I who felt a little invisible.

"Just When ... "

(Please read Exodus 3:1-15)
  
Just when the young
have their hectic schedules
finalized on their calendars …

Just when baby boomers
have their lives
carefully mapped out …

Just when retirees
think that they have
indeed retired …

Just when our lives
become routine and settled …
and just when we think
that we will never
hear the voice of God,
IT HAPPENS.

Yes, just when we begin to believe
that we are who we are
and are who we will always be,
God calls our name,
not once, but twice …
commanding attention
as one might do
to a child who hasn’t listened.

Just when we put on
our well-worn bedroom slippers again,
comfortable and familiar,
we hear
“Take off your slippers.
You are standing on holy ground!”

Just when you call our names,
O Great I AM,
and as we lean upon you
to remove our slippers,
forgive our initial fears and excuses;
forgive us if the first words
from our mouths are
“B-b- but  G-G-God …
I haven’t had a pedicure yet!”

Just when our names spoken
still echo in our hearts …
just when our feet are bared,
and our favorite slippers
are tossed aside,
may our prayers be
that when called,
each of us might say,
“Here I am.”
 

"The Question"

(personal ponderings on Matthew 16:13-20)

There are those days
when my head is lowered
in the “I should haves’
or  “I could haves” but “didn’ts”.
In those days, my eyes are downcast.
He is looking directly at me.
I don’t need to look his way …
I sense in his voice, disappointment.
I can hear an occasional sigh.
Yet, his eyes don’t turn away from me.
He has seen my stumbling.
He has heard words carelessly pour out of my mouth
and he has heard my deafening silence of omission.
And yet, if I would only look up
I could see his love for me,
even as he shakes his head and whispers,
“So like Peter.  So, so like Peter.”

There are those days
when Jesus once more looks directly at me …
into my eyes.
He gently lifts my lowered head and asks,
“But what about you?  Who do you say that I am?”
All movement around me comes to a standstill.
The others near me freeze into place for a moment.
I can hear my own breathing
and even though I could turn my eyes away,
I don’t.

Others around me vie for his attention.
Hands shoot up as if they are children in a classroom.
“Pick me!  Oh, pick me!  I know the answer,” they shout.
Some are guesses … “A prophet!  Elijah!
John the Baptist!  Jeremiah!”
The others speak in words that are different from my own …
words that seem memorized,
pouring from the head and not from the heart.

There are those days
when I am asked THE QUESTION.
He waits for no answer other than mine.
In words that I barely recognize, I answer,
"You are the Messiah!  You are my LORD."
The words spill out from the seeking place in my heart.
Spilling out from his heart are words as well.
“Blessed are you.   These words did not come
from those who have memorized them
or from those who have borrowed words from others;
you have heard this from my Father!"

There are those days … actually each and every day,
when the implications of this answered question
cannot be ignored.
I have called him ‘Messiah’;
I have called him LORD;
He has called me ‘Disciple’
and placed me on a new path
paved with Solid Rock.

"A Superhero Sighting"

I saw a Superhero yesterday. Yes I did!

While I was at a stoplight at a major intersection, I glanced to my right to see a pickup truck in the lane beside of me. Inside of the truck were a mother and a little boy, probably no more than 3 years old. The back window was opened. A large tractor/trailer was slowly approaching the pickup truck from behind. Suddenly a little hand stuck out of the pickup's window. I could tell by the little shirt sleeve that it was Spiderman! The arm was held steady and straight out, the palm of little Spiderman's hand was facing the large tractor/trailer,steady and determined to stop the truck. Yes, the truck stopped and the small hand of Spiderman withdrew when his heroic duty was done. The little boy looked at his mother with an excited expression on his face and huge smile. I could see that he was saying, "I DID IT!" Yes, you did, Spiderman. You DID stop that truck with the palm of your hand. I am witness to that!

This morning, I posted the ‘heroic act’ on Facebook and a pastor commented that she never sees such interesting things in her day.   Why is it that some of us do see these special moments in ordinary days and others don’t?   I shared with her something that I have learned and take to heart.  I try to go into my day always anticipating that God will point me to a Superhero (or someone in need of a Superhero).  Often, I see that one or the other is very near to me.  And yes, there are times when God whispers, “Anna, it’s your turn! Put on your Spiderman shirt, hold your hand out and be a Superhero today!”

It’s a part of what we pray in our churches each Sunday, isn’t it?  “Thy kingdom come on earth ….”

"Something Kept Them Together"

(thoughts on John 14:1)

In the room,
they waited,
prayed,
and in
hushed voices,
wondered
why.

Something
kept them
together.

Surely,
they remembered
disturbing words
of betrayal,
of impending
death,
of denials,
of rumbles
among the people …
and of the
promised resurrection.

They were
in his presence
for so long.
Why?
Now they remembered
the words,“Wait.
Gather together and wait.”
That is what
they had come
together to do …
WAIT.

Something
kept them
together.

Then they heard
the words
from the One
whose death
and now presence
had moved them
from deepest grief
to bewildering joy …
“Believe in God,
believe also in me.”

They heard
“I am the way…”
and suddenly
it became
more about
the confidence
in the
continued journey
with him
than the
destination.

Something
kept them
together
to be sent
out for others.

The puzzle pieces
were falling
into place.
“Believe in God,
believe also in me.”
Teachings and words
that they
had heard for
three years
became
infallible promises.

The door was
opened
and the disciples …
the witnesses
waited no more.

(c)  anna murdock

"The Road to a Mess"

(Luke 24:13-35)

That particular Sunday morning happened to be one of those mornings when things just clicked for me.  The sun was shining through the stained glass windows in the empty sanctuary.  For reasons I can’t remember, I decided to spend some quiet prayer time in the sanctuary alone.  The timing was during Sunday school classes and well before our worship service.  I sat on a pew near the back - near the large “Road to Emmaus” stained glass window.

Suddenly, in the middle of this time of prayer that was coloured by the sun shining through the stained glass, the inner doors to the sanctuary opened and a stream of 3-to-5 year olds walked in with their Sunday school teacher.  “Shhh,” whispered the teacher. They quietly headed to the huge stained glass window near me – the one that depicted Jesus and the men on the road to Emmaus.  Their teacher had read them the story and now they were looking at the beautiful window as their illustration.

The first question from the teacher was, “What are the men wearing?”  “Dresses,” they shouted.  I had to smile (OK, so the robes do look a little like dresses).   The teacher asked, “Where are they?”  All but one shouted, “They are on the road to Emmaus!”  That one, a sweet little boy standing closest to me said, “They are on the road to a mess.”  Out of the mouths of babes!  

Thank you, God, (and this little boy) for reminding us that there are times when we do indeed find ourselves on the "road to a mess.”  We have followed Jesus.  We have heard his promises and trusted him.  We know that all he did, he did for us.  Our faith tends to be present-tense and future-tense.  We mumble through “Christ has died” and shout “Christ is risen” and “Christ will come again!”  But there are times when our present-tense faith takes on a past-tense air.  Changes in our lives do that at times.  Changes certainly did that for our friends on the road to Emmaus.  “He WAS a prophet,” Cleopas said.  “He WAS powerful in word and deed before God and all the people,” he continued.  “We HAD hoped …,” Cleopas went on to say as they walked along the way.  These two men had looked into the eyes of Jesus.  They had heard his very voice speak promises of hope and salvation.  They had witnessed the crucifixion and stood in the presence of eyewitnesses to his resurrection as they heard their accounts.  But crucifixion and resurrection brought with it great changes in the lives of these two men.  Past-tense faith stopped them dead in their sandals.  Past-tense faith made them downcast.  Past-tense faith caused them to see a stranger, not Jesus, along their journey.  Past-tense faith found them walking on the road to despair, hopelessness, grief and fear as they headed back home.  As my little friend so perfectly said, “They are on the road to a mess.”

Changes of any kind can indeed head us down the “road to a mess” if we walk by sight only and not also by faith.  Thank goodness, Cleopas and the other one strongly urged ‘the stranger’ to stay with them that evening.  Hospitality welcomed Jesus into the home.  It is there where they finally recognized this stranger who had walked with them.  In this one day, the Risen Christ walked with them, spoke to them and ate with them.  In this one day, our two friends’ faith changed from a past-tense faith to a present-tense faith that could not wait for morning to come to be shared.  No longer were they on the road to a mess!

"The Fragrance of Extravagant Worship"

(John 12:1-11)

As we read today’s Scriptures, there is this realization within us that there is a change of time and pace. Our Lenten journey toward Jerusalem has stopped for a while. We have waved our palms and shouted our Hosannas.  For so many days, we have been in prayer and have come before God with repentant hearts. There has been reflection and healing. But now Jesus wants to spend more time with each of us, apart from the growing crowds in Jerusalem. It is this change that brings a time of fellowship with him, when our hearts are exposed. Will we pour out extravagant love and worship our Lord’s way? Are we filled with a love for Jesus to the point of overflowing? This is what this change of pace is all about. It is a time to think about these things. Where are our hearts?

There is something quite breathtaking in Mary’s act of extravagant worship. Did Martha stop serving others and gasp at the sight of her sister loosening her hair, or was she too busy to notice? Did anyone hear the sounds of the perfume’s container being broken open or did all heads turn at the first scents that floated into the air? Were mumbles first uttered from the men around the table or were there shouts of "STOP!" Surely, spontaneous and extravagant acts of worship silence a room for a moment before any objections can be voiced.

Outside of the walls of Lazarus’ house, rumblings of fear, power and hatred could be heard as if thunder in the distance. Inside the home, disciples and friends gathered with Jesus to enjoy each other’s company. Suddenly "the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." There she was. Mary,in worship, pouring her most costly possession on the feet of her Lord. Anointing his feet with nard. Wiping them with her loosened hair. This was an extravagant outpouring of love and spontaneous worship that could wait no longer. Judas objected, but it didn’t seem to matter. Mary, above all others, knew that Jesus was her Lord and Savior. While the others had failed to listen closely as they walked with Jesus, while the others argued among themselves, while the others slept, Mary had pondered Jesus’ miracles and listened carefully to his words. She had witnessed the power of God. She had experienced God’s love. She knew that the One who sat at her table was truly the Messiah. Down came her hair. Out came her most priceless possession. The perfume of adoration, love, worship, praise and offering filled the room and ultimately the world. That is what extravagant worship is like … spontaneous, overflowing, priceless and permeating.

Yes, there is a change of pace now that the palms have been laid aside. What will today bring in this new light? Extravagant worship? Close your eyes. Take a deep breath and smell worship’s fragrance.

O God … Suddenly we see that this change of time and pace calls for each of us to stop and claim who Jesus is in our lives. May our worship be akin to Mary’s worship … spontaneous and extravagant with a love for Jesus that breaks open our hearts and cannot help but flow, scenting our world with love and compassion for others and calling us to costly discipleship. Change our time and pace, O God. Change our time and pace. Amen.