What you looking at?

Whatever it is that we wish to see, it’s important that we have our eyes open, so we don’t miss it when it arrives. Having our eyes open and looking in the right direction are important. Choosing where to focus our attention in a world full of distraction and competing voices is very important.

I wonder what has captured your attention recently? Ask yourself what do find yourself dwelling on, thinking about or captivated by. Noticing something is one thing, but allowing ourselves to become transfixed by it is another.

Rather than allowing the news, which can be depressing and anxiety provoking, to hold us hostage to events beyond our control, it is better to balance the healthy desire for keeping abreast of current affairs with not becoming lost to them.

Better to keep our head up and our eyes open watching for that which we hope for than to allow that which worries us to become our focus.

And so to our readings this week which are quite forthright. Both the ancient prophet Jeremiah and the later writer to the Hebrews speak boldly to us. They call us to have our eyes open to the truth of God’s presence in our lives. They remind us that many have gone before us who have witnessed to this presence.

God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah to a people who were seeking to follow the faith but who were tossed and turned by the political upheaval of their time. I find it curious that our own situation reflects this challenge too. Who are the prophetic voices in your community who are speaking challenging words, inviting change and a closer walk with God?

The letter to the Hebrews lists person after person, across thousands of years of history, who walked by faith and not fear. The letter was written around AD60, 30 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. It was written to those who had left their old ways behind to become Christians, but who now, in the face of challenges all around them, were minded to give up.

What challenges does today’s church face?

What do you personally find difficult about being a follower of Jesus?

Those who came before us had challenges far greater than ours. Some lived before Jesus was born and had only the ancient stories to hold to. We however have no excuse it seems for not paying attention to the divine story that is unfolding around us each day.

Then pouring fuel on that wake-up call of a fire is Jesus, with words that can shock. Perhaps that is exactly what was intended? Wake up, open your eyes, pay attention. It is plain to see apparently, but too often it seems that we are blind to it.

Hence my invitation currently to listen to each other and to those with whom we live, work and socialise. I am encouraging you, every one of you, to join the conversation.

What do you see that we need to pay attention to?

Where do you perceive that God is at work, or calling us to join in that work?

Please speak up. Help all of us to become captivated by the potentially quiet, undramatic, but nevertheless important strands of the divine story that is unfolding around us.

Share your thoughts in whatever way you find easiest, by email, by phone, by letter or online at westtone.org.uk/conversation. Thank you.

Photo by Kelli McClintock on Unsplash