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Love is the fire of transformation.
December 21, 2024
Isaiah 43:8-13 speaks powerfully to God’s eternal, unwavering presence in our lives. In this passage, Isaiah calls forth all people from all nations, asking them to be witnesses to God in the world. He explicitly addresses those who have eyes, yet are blind, and those who do not hear, even though they have ears to do so. God proclaims that these are the people He has chosen to know, understand, and believe in Him.
The blindness and inability to hear that the passage refers to are not simply physical conditions but a condition of the heart, mind, and soul; a human circumstance that limits our ability to know, understand, and believe.
God, knowing our human limitations and yet wanting us to have an ever-deepening understanding and knowing of Him, provides us with the option of choosing transformation. That choice, guided by God’s grace and transformative love, moves us from our limited vision to an expanding and ever-evolving understanding.
Transformation implies crossing a threshold from being spiritually blind and deaf to having vision and listening deeply. Love is the fire of that transformation. It is not something we can will upon ourselves, nor is it a path of self-improvement. It happens when we say yes to God’s invitation to see, hear, understand, know, and believe more deeply. It happens when we are willing to open our hearts to the vulnerability of knowing God in deepening and unfolding ways. We say yes to opening our eyes and ears to God’s guiding presence in our lives. Conversion from blindness to an expanding spiritual vision is not a one-and-done event, and it is not usually a simple walk in the park. Most often, it is a circuitous and challenging path that happens in God’s time and in God’s way.
Along with God’s grace and love, transformation from not seeing and not hearing requires a quieting of the noise of everyday life and mindfulness of the deeper truth that surrounds us. A stillness of the heart and mind is also necessary. It is in that stillness that we experience, in unfolding and deepening ways, God’s constant presence and availability. God is always loving each precious one of us in our being and becoming.
During this transition time at St. Luke’s, we are challenged to create an environment in which our new and unfolding vision for St. Luke’s can be nurtured to grow and expand. That requires us to stay mindful of not letting the fear and anxiety that often shadow times of transition, limiting our ability to see, hear, and be present to ourselves and each other. We need to give ourselves the necessary conditions needed to imagine new ways of being, new ways of seeing, and new ways of caring for ourselves, our community, and the Earth on which we all live.
If we believe that God speaks to us through nature, perhaps we should look to the gift of the mustard seeds that Father Tim gave to each of us before he and Diane left. We can see the seeds as symbolic of the teachings of Jesus, and it is our work to grow them as a part of our new vision. Perhaps they are an invitation to not only care for ourselves and each other, but also for the Earth. As we nurture and grow our seeds, may our new vision be one that translates into action for each of us, and may it reflect the radiance of God’s love and spirit in all.
Patricia Warburton
We are so pleased you have joined us online at St. Luke’s. And, we invite you to make a Special Christmas Gift Offering to help us continue our outreach efforts.
