|
In the digital world, with the help of Tivo,
we get to choose when to watch our favorite TV shows, and we can fast
forward through those darned commercials. We can setup a season pass and
feel sure that we will never miss an episode and we can watch a
one-hour show in just 42 minutes, if we are quick
on the remote control!
In the digital world we choose the ring tones for our Cell Phone.
We can use songs or music or voices from around the world.
We can assign different people their own ring tone
and a different sound for a text message and a
voice mail and an incoming call.
In the digital world we can store music, pictures and
video on our iPod.
We can set up music mixes for different moods or
occasions: light rock when dad or mom is in the
car, some smoochie tunes when our boyfriend is
with us, some Lynard Skinner when we go out with
the guys! We can choose only to hear the music we want to hear.
In the digital world using our Satellite Radio, we
have hundreds of stations to choose from, all with crystal clear sound
quality. No static as
darkness falls, no signal fading in and out as we drive. We can hear the
news from around the world, the traffic in Los Angeles
or New York city. Janice gave me satellite radio last Christmas.
I can get the BBC and soccer matches.
Heck, it even has a
feature in which I can program in the name of a performer or a song and if
that band or song is on the dial anywhere, the
radio beeps at me. I press one button and voila:
U2 or Queen or The Eagles! We get to pick the music we hear, the beat we
want to enjoy, the story we want to can listen to.
It is our choice - we decide.
In the world that is my clothes closet I sometimes brush past or bump into
my tie selection hanging on the hook on the back of the closet door – Jingle
Bells! I didn’t mean to do it, I didn’t choose, I didn’t want to hear the
song. But there it is.
It intrudes into my day, unwanted, unasked for, unnecessary, uncalled
for. But there it is
nevertheless, and for most of the year it is quite at odds with the mood of
the day.
I say to you today that we limit ourselves if we stick to only those
things we choose to hear.
I say to you today that we need to listen for and give our attention to
other songs and tunes and music and stories that we might not make as our
first choice.
I say to you today that Lent, and Holy Week and Easter is a much-needed
opportunity to lay down our preferences and to listen for another beat, a
different song, God’s story, divine music!
I say to you today that we will only gain as we allow the symphony of God’s
love to intrude into our hearts and minds. That
God invites us to tune out and tune in.
To tune out of the babble of the world
around us and to tune in to the length and height and depth and width
of God’s love expressed in the life and Passion of Jesus Christ.
I say to you today that in Jesus Christ, in life and death,
we belong to God and God has stuff for us to be and do in the world, stuff
that really matters, matters to God and matters to our neighbors.
I say to you today that we have been given a great musical gift this morning
and we have now the ability to make this week a week of listening to and for
all that Easter means and demands of us. This week is for hearing God,
hearing God’s love song for the world, so we can offer back our heartfelt
thanks and praise – in the hymns we sing, in the prayers we offer, in the
creeds we affirm, in the forgiveness we offer, in the justice for which we
speak, in the friendship we offer, in the reconciliation we nurture, in the
love we share through service to others, in the peace we share, in the lives
we live. We have a new song.
We have heard a new song.
We have a new song to sing and share! Amen. |
