“Listen carefully to my instruction…and attend to them with the ear of your heart”
The God of revelation is a hidden and mysterious God. The disciples experienced this God on the Sea of Galilee: they were caught in a storm while Jesus was up on a mountain by himself praying. The Gospel says they were terrified when they saw him walking on the water.
Elijah thought he would experience God in a strong and heavy wind, or in an earthquake, or in a fire. Instead he found God in “a tiny whispering sound.”
We keep thinking that God will be found in the great and powerful, and we wonder why so many people seem never to find God.
Perhaps our sights have to be lowered, so to speak, from the powerful to the powerless, from the rich to the poor, from the satisfied to the suffering, from the oppressors to the oppressed. We must listen carefully for the tiny whispering sounds of alienation and powerlessness.
Though in the Gospels and in the New Testament the offer of salvation is extended to all peoples, Jesus takes the side of those most in need, physically and spiritually.
The example of Jesus … calls for an emptying of self, both individually and corporately, that allows the Church to experience the power of God in the midst of poverty and powerlessness.
(U.S. Bishops, Economic Justice for All, 1986:52)
Lord,
we see you
walking on our sea,
raging with an out of control
pandemic, racial injustice and an
environmental crisis.
You
call us
to come to you.
Help us
keep our eyes on you; never take them off.
We know you will be right with us,
calming our rampant squalls.
And reach out your hand,
like you did to Peter,
if, when we are
terrified, we
falter and
start to
sink.
-Anne Osdieck
