Fly

Isaiah 40:27-31 (NRSV)

Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I want to fly like an eagle
To the sea
Fly like an eagle
Let my spirit carry me
I want to fly like an eagle
Till I'm free
Oh, Lord, through the revolution

"Fly Like an Eagle" by Steve Miller, 1976

Flight, it has captivated humanity since the first birds took to the air. The majesty of flight has made us imagine taking to the skies since the times when we jumped off of the picnic table wearing a blanket for a cape. If you didn't jump from the picnic table, surely you jumped on the stairs, off the bed, or off of some sort of playground equipment. It's only human to want to take flight. It's only physiology and gravity that prevents it.

We imagine the V of geese flying across the skies. Hearing the honks, seeing the formation. They fly that way so that the goose at the head does the lion's share of the work. The rest draft behind the one in front like a line of cars at Daytona, but without a pit crew.

The geese fly as a team, one counting on the next to keep the formation to make the way easier for the rest of the gaggle. Then, the lead goose will drop back into the formation, and a new leader will take the point. This way, a stronger goose is always in the front. This way, they lift one another.

Isaiah assures the nation of Israel that they will be lifted , they shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. They will be supported by the head of the church, the Lord God. The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. God will not grow weary, They will be strengthened by the power of God.

Such a promise does not come without great responsibility. We are lifted to freedom. But even freedom in God comes with a price. Think of it as "No One Left Behind."

Feed the babies who don't have enough to eat. Shoe the children with no shoes on their feet. House the people livin' in the street. This is the mission, this is our vocation, to take the Word of God into the world not just by our voice, but with our hands. Oh, oh, this is the solution.

The View from Inside

...with thanks to Sister Madness, Janine Zabriskie, for the great song suggestion


Jonah 2:1-10

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying,

“I called to the LORD out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.

You cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.

Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
how shall I look again
upon your holy temple?’

The waters closed in over me;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped around my head
at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the Pit,
O LORD my God.

As my life was ebbing away,
I remembered the LORD;
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.

Those who worship vain idols
forsake their true loyalty.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.

Deliverance belongs to the LORD!”
Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I think of heaven
Deliver me in a black-winged bird
I think of flying down into a sea of pens and feathers
And all other instruments of faith and sex and God
In the belly of a black-winged bird.
Don't try to feed me
'Cause I've been here before
And I deserve a little more

I belong in the service of the Queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been crying and I've been thinking
And I am the Rain King

"The Rain King" by Counting Crows

The Lord gave Jonah one job, go to Nineveh and tell everyone that their world is about to crash about their ears. Have you ever noticed that the prophets get all of the worst jobs? Let's face it, they do. More often than not, they are told only to share the worst possible news with people who don't want to hear it.

Then again, if the folks who needed the news were obedient to the Lord to begin with, would they really need the reminder?

Jonah decides to buck the trend. He heads off in the other direction, he heads off to sea. Of course, the will of the Lord will not be thwarted. The Lord will be obeyed. A great storm rises and Jonah is below decks taking a nap. He is so satisfied with his decision that he just might figure he has two choices, die in Nineveh while spreading the news or die at sea. Death is death and it seems he decided to meet death on his terms rather than the Lord's.

Well, you know the story, Jonah leaves the ship, the hard way, and ends up in the belly of the fish. There he begins to lament. He sees that it is not the same, dying while doing the Lord's work must be better than the alternative. He ends with crying out "Deliverance belongs to the LORD!" Jonah knows who is to serve and learns it from the belly of the big fish.

Adam Duritz has seen his own pain, and he sees it from the belly of the black-winged bird; flying, diving into a sea of pens and feathers. He knows his own big fish experience. He knows like Jonah knows. He know his God and sees the good works of God's creation and he sees them in the belly of the black-winged bird.

Oddly, they come to the same conclusion. They both know their roles. Adam Duritz sings about the Rain King in service to the Queen. Jonah knows he's the prophet of the Lord. They both come to learn where they belong and who they belong to.

Both of these stories tend to lead to the same questions: Who do you serve? What's your role? The answers to those questions make life worth living.

Picking Your Friends

)

Psalm 1

Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.

The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bad company, and I can't deny,
Bad company, 'til the day I die.

"Bad Company" by the band Bad Company from the album Bad Company

Scripture reminds us that we are to treat all people well, because we never know when we will be treating angels without being aware that we are. We never know. We are all children of God, even the least of us, even the wicked. But that doesn't mean that we should be hanging out with the wicked.

So how do we walk this tightrope? How do we serve God's children while not hanging out with bad company 'til the day we die? The answer is that this is not the question we should be answering. This question is a smoke screen. The very first Psalm gives us a better answer, from there we can come up with the more fitting question.

Happy are those who who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night.

The questions are "Who do you follow? Who do you serve?" Serving God, serving creation, delighting in the Lord, we serve all creation. This is how we serve all facets of God's good creation. Trying to serve humanity without serving God, it may be its own noble goal, it's just impossible to live that way with any certainty. When we do, we end up serving other masters to the detriment of those we seek to serve.

We can follow the wicked, we can be bad company 'til the day we die, but there is a better way. Following God, even in service to the weak and wicked we will be like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither.

So you see, there isn't a tightrope, serve God and we will be doing God's work, serving angels unawares, without serving the wicked.