LISTENING
Second Sunday of Lent A Matt17:1-9 12:15 2008
Once upon a time, before two-legged creatures walked the earth, earth was at peace. Earth was warm and the animals wanted for nothing. Then one night there was a new thing. Something began to fall from the sky. The animals had never seen it before. It was soft, lovely and very, very cold. It stuck to trees and feathers and the ground. As it lingered it got harder and colder. When the first snowfall came all the animals were delighted at this new thing.
But it kept snowing and so many of the animals had a hard time getting around and searching for food. The animals didn’t know what to do about this new thing that first delighted them but now made life on earth a big problem.
Then one day from high in the pine tree came the sound of the Rainbow Crow, the most beautiful of all birds. Rainbow Crow sang: I’ll go and I will stop the snow from falling. And so Rainbow Crow flew high above the earth until she came into the presence of the Great Spirit. There in the presence of the Great Spirit, Rainbow Crow began to sing the sweetest lullaby.
The Great Spirit was so delighted that she told Rainbow Crow to choose any gift she wanted. Immediately Rainbow Crow asked the Great Spirit to stop the snow from falling on earth because all the animals were disappearing under it.
But the Great Spirit said, I can’t because Snow has a will of her own. But then the Great Spirit picked up a stick and put fire on the end of it. Rainbow Crow had never seen fire before. The Great Spirit gave the fiery stick to Rainbow Crow and told her to fly as fast as she could back to earth.
When Rainbow Crow got to earth, Fire burned the stick until Rainbow Crow was covered with black soot and he started to choke from the smoke and she became very hot. As Rainbow Crow landed on the snow with Fire, the snow began to melt until Rainbow Crow was standing on solid ground. All the animals began to rejoice that once again there was solid ground.
But Rainbow Crow was sad. She who had had the most beautiful feathers, was now as black as night without a moon. And she could no longer sing sweet lullabies because of the smoke that had choked his throat. Now she could only squawk, Caw, Caw, Caw. But the Great Spirit came to Rainbow Crow and told her that her squawking would always warn the other animals of approaching danger. As a reward for your self-sacrifice, the Great Spirit said, you will be their protector. The animals will see your beauty and hear your song in your efforts to warn them.
Then the Great Spirit told all the other animals to always listen when Rainbow Crow’s cawing grew loudest for then she was warning them of impending danger. The Great Spirit’s last words to all the animals of the earth were, Listen to the Black Crow.
In our gospel story today the Great Spirit, God the Father, tells Jesus’ disciples and us, This is my beloved son. Listen to him.
Stern and Marino in their book, Psychotheology, tell you that you do not need to attract Jesus’ attention; he is always speaking to you and you must listen to his simple message about love and peace and justice.
You need to listen to the words of Jesus as you listen, for example, to the music of waves that engulf you at the seashore or, for example, the sound of thunder that awakens you. You have to listen to Jesus especially when he warns you, for example, about accumulating material possessions without a sense of social obligation to the less fortunate.
You need to listen to Jesus when, for example, he asks you to examine whether helping a friend is less important than staying late at work to finish a project or, for example, whether your commitment to a career is more important than participating in the PTA.
You need to listen to Jesus, when, for example, you are feeling anxious or depressed or under stress, and Jesus’ words dare you, to ask yourself questions, for example, like: Why am I so angry? What do I fear losing? What am I demanding of the people around me? Why am I so worried about people seeing me as imperfect? Why do I give power to others to upset me? Why do I take an annoying event and make it worse?
As you enter deeper into the Lenten season, ask Jesus your friend who lives and speaks within you to help you to do more listening in your prayer than talking.
HUMOR An announcement in a church bulletin read: At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be “What Is Hell?” Come early and listen to our choir practice.
THOUGHT Make your listening your love in action.
Once upon a time, before two-legged creatures walked the earth, earth was at peace. Earth was warm and the animals wanted for nothing. Then one night there was a new thing. Something began to fall from the sky. The animals had never seen it before. It was soft, lovely and very, very cold. It stuck to trees and feathers and the ground. As it lingered it got harder and colder. When the first snowfall came all the animals were delighted at this new thing.
But it kept snowing and so many of the animals had a hard time getting around and searching for food. The animals didn’t know what to do about this new thing that first delighted them but now made life on earth a big problem.
Then one day from high in the pine tree came the sound of the Rainbow Crow, the most beautiful of all birds. Rainbow Crow sang: I’ll go and I will stop the snow from falling. And so Rainbow Crow flew high above the earth until she came into the presence of the Great Spirit. There in the presence of the Great Spirit, Rainbow Crow began to sing the sweetest lullaby.
The Great Spirit was so delighted that she told Rainbow Crow to choose any gift she wanted. Immediately Rainbow Crow asked the Great Spirit to stop the snow from falling on earth because all the animals were disappearing under it.
But the Great Spirit said, I can’t because Snow has a will of her own. But then the Great Spirit picked up a stick and put fire on the end of it. Rainbow Crow had never seen fire before. The Great Spirit gave the fiery stick to Rainbow Crow and told her to fly as fast as she could back to earth.
When Rainbow Crow got to earth, Fire burned the stick until Rainbow Crow was covered with black soot and he started to choke from the smoke and she became very hot. As Rainbow Crow landed on the snow with Fire, the snow began to melt until Rainbow Crow was standing on solid ground. All the animals began to rejoice that once again there was solid ground.
But Rainbow Crow was sad. She who had had the most beautiful feathers, was now as black as night without a moon. And she could no longer sing sweet lullabies because of the smoke that had choked his throat. Now she could only squawk, Caw, Caw, Caw. But the Great Spirit came to Rainbow Crow and told her that her squawking would always warn the other animals of approaching danger. As a reward for your self-sacrifice, the Great Spirit said, you will be their protector. The animals will see your beauty and hear your song in your efforts to warn them.
Then the Great Spirit told all the other animals to always listen when Rainbow Crow’s cawing grew loudest for then she was warning them of impending danger. The Great Spirit’s last words to all the animals of the earth were, Listen to the Black Crow.
In our gospel story today the Great Spirit, God the Father, tells Jesus’ disciples and us, This is my beloved son. Listen to him.
Stern and Marino in their book, Psychotheology, tell you that you do not need to attract Jesus’ attention; he is always speaking to you and you must listen to his simple message about love and peace and justice.
You need to listen to the words of Jesus as you listen, for example, to the music of waves that engulf you at the seashore or, for example, the sound of thunder that awakens you. You have to listen to Jesus especially when he warns you, for example, about accumulating material possessions without a sense of social obligation to the less fortunate.
You need to listen to Jesus when, for example, he asks you to examine whether helping a friend is less important than staying late at work to finish a project or, for example, whether your commitment to a career is more important than participating in the PTA.
You need to listen to Jesus, when, for example, you are feeling anxious or depressed or under stress, and Jesus’ words dare you, to ask yourself questions, for example, like: Why am I so angry? What do I fear losing? What am I demanding of the people around me? Why am I so worried about people seeing me as imperfect? Why do I give power to others to upset me? Why do I take an annoying event and make it worse?
As you enter deeper into the Lenten season, ask Jesus your friend who lives and speaks within you to help you to do more listening in your prayer than talking.
HUMOR An announcement in a church bulletin read: At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be “What Is Hell?” Come early and listen to our choir practice.
THOUGHT Make your listening your love in action.
posted by The Ronald | 2:07 PM
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