Beauty

 This Sunday marks our start into the creation season. I really want us to observe where creation intersects with our text. The first intersection is in our text from Isaiah 35:4-7a and we are only looking at the last part. 

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;

the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;

Senses are restored, so you can see and picture the deer leaping. You can hear the singing of the waters. See things coming to life in the dry desert. See the water pools glisten. All of this takes in the creation to show what restoration is like in the Lord, God.

How have we wandered so far we don't notice the wonders of the created world around us? How have we forgotten to notice this tie in with the text itself? We become so consumed with the scholarly pursuits of the text we strip out what is right around us and sitting in it. 

Next is the Psalm, now this Psalm only has a few illusions to the mountains and hills, yet so many of the Psalms contain illusions to the creation around us. The 23 Psalm or Psalm 121 which are about streams and valleys and hills. The things which represent life and hardship and solitude. And then there is Psalm 139 which speaks of how fearfully and wonderfully we are made. Because God created it all. 

We need to soak in the wonder, beauty, and hardship of creation. In Indigenous communities observing nature was observing life. How it all worked together, the good and bad, the hard and plentiful all worked in concert. It is why they moved during the summer here and back to other places in the winter. They knew the rhythm of creation and where the food would be abundant and how to share it with all creation so they didn't deplete it and make it disappear.

How often do we just stop. Stop to listen. Stop to tune in and hear. Stop to observe and see or learn. To become like the forest. It is a gift to tune into the creation around us and to tune out the traffic of daily life. To bathe in the wonder of it and to know more deeply the God who created all these things.

Lastly, instead of changing out the gospel I chose to look deeply into where Jesus walked today. On YouTube you can find all sorts of tours through Tyre and Sidon. You can see the countryside and the city. Experience maybe what you saw walking with Jesus through that region. The biggest thing is that these cities are 20 miles from one another and people estimate a good seasoned walker could do this in 8 hours. It was a days journey. A days journey through wilderness. Through sand and trees, hills and rocks, green places and bare this was the journey. 

If we really dwell on the journey we might get a different picture of Jesus and the disciples journeys. Today you can go and take a bus or tour and its not the same as walking. Truly walking all of those different locations or paying attention to the created world outside. When walking we actually see and feel the heat, the vegetation, the hills and valleys and the dangers and rests in them. 

All of this is to say we need to be more attuned to the world around us. To unplug from our devices and sit and listen to the birds, the wind, a stream. To take the time to hear what God is saying to us through this world and us which God created and loves. Take the time, go and sit, go and walk, come and see what God has made.