Other Voices

Cincinnati Nature Center - Milford, Ohio

Today is one of those perfect fall days that you always remember - the sky is a deep blue and there's a little bite in the breeze that reminds you that winter is coming.

I walked in one of my favorite places. The Cincinnati Nature Center. It exists as a kind of natural oasis in the desert of suburbia.

This morning I sat by the lake - just around the bend that you see in this picture, and read the lectionary epistle reading for today.

"Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature. In the law it is written: "With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me," says the Lord." 1 Cor. 14:20-25

God speaks to us all the time, in many ways, through other tongues and other lips, some human, some not. Yet, we will not hear.

We choose not to hear for many reasons -

• The source of the voice does not fit our preconceived notion of truth.
• The content doesn't fit our "comfort zone."
• It sounds too simple.
• It sounds too risky.
• Quite frankly, it's not what we want to hear.

There's a wonderful expression that I've heard used among the members of the Northumbrian Christian Community:

The Heretical Imperative:

To choose to seek God in Christ and to discover His Truth in a pluralistic, secular and materialistic world, being unafraid to listen or to ask awkward questions, of others and ourselves, as part of the quest.

- Trevor Miller, from the booklet "How Then Shall We Live."

St. Paul, by quoting the words of Isaiah, was stretching the minds of the community at Corinth. He wanted them to be aware that God uses methods for communicating His will that are not bound by limited human understanding and pre-conceived, albeit, well-defined, theological boundaries.

St. Paul and the other Apostles, in obedience to their Master, lived in the world. Transforming it by interacting with it, not hiding and making themselves separate from it, or judging and condemning it.

When I walked through the woods at the Nature Center this morning I noticed the silky threads of cobwebs between the branches of a dead tree and became aware of the interconnectedness of life and the incredible beauty of the moment by moment revelation of each instant. This led me to think about the preciousness and brevity of life. Not in a morbid or sad way, but with a sense of gratefulness for being here right now.

God spoke to me through nature as I walked in the woods. He made me aware that when His Son Jesus came to earth, He not only came as God to re-established our relationship with Him in eternity, but He also came as a human being to remind us that it's OK to be human now.