CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter--HAVEN’T YOU EVER HEARD? [Ash Wednesday, 2-14-24] Isaiah 40:21-31.
No, I do not need hearing aids, despite what some people, like my wife and my doctor, think. What I need is for other people to stop mumbling. [Good grief, people, haven’t you ever heard of e-nun-ci-a-tion?]
Besides, if God had wanted everybody to hear everything, why did They [Yes, They. Haven’t you ever heard of the Trinity?] invent Sub-Titles/Closed Captioning? Well, actually They got deaf actor Emerson Romero to do it, in 1929, when “talkies” left deaf actors and audiences out, but that’s the point of this devotional. [Wait for it; the point is at the end. Haven’t you ever heard of foreshadowing?]
According to people who invent ecclesiastical calendars, in Lent we are supposed to get ready for Easter, for celebrating Resurrection, through Bible reading, giving alms, self-examination, prayer, and fasting. Hearing aids will not help with any of that stuff.
So, I can do Lent perfectly without hearing aids. [No, that’s not the point yet. Haven’t you ever heard about building anticipation?] Or, hearing at all, for that matter. Getting ready for Easter is just about doing stuff I don’t need to hear other people for. Except alms, and they don’t have to say anything, just reach out with an open alm palm.
A silent Lent worries me a little, though. Almost all the times I’ve heard Them speak, it was through some other person. Grandma Mac… Uncle Johnny… Mrs. Darringer… Bishop Raines… Rev. F. T. Johnson… Joan of Arcadia… Helen… Emerson Romero…
At my last doctor visit, she looked me straight in the eye, which is a good feat considering that I am a foot taller, and said, “I’m used to your refusal of everything I think will be good for you. You won’t take tests. You won’t take medicines. You won’t take advice. But if you get to the place when you can’t understand what people are saying, you must get hearing aids. You can live without tests and medicines and advice, but you can’t live without people.”
That’s the same as saying you can’t live without Them.
Listen to what people say. When you hear what they say, you might hear what They say. It might get you ready for Easter.
Haven’t you ever heard…
John Robert McFarland
Our
church, St. Mark’s on the Bypass, asked for contributions for a Lenten
devotional booklet. I submitted this, but our church staff does not acknowledge
or reply to emails, so they may not have received it, or if they did, they may
have decided not to use it. If they did, I apologize if you are a St.
Mark’s saint and have to see it twice.
I know what you mean about not following your doctor's advice. I almost always do, but in some cases I don't...like the stuff I hear (I have hearing aids) from the almost-doctor who does my annual "wellness check" for United Heath Care Insurance. (It's free, so why not?) Why not? Not! because they accent all the things I am going to have to give up if I want to live forever. I bragged about finding sugar free candy and giving up all sugary things. She (the almost-doctor) said I shouldn't eat sugar-free stuff because the sugar has been replaced by something that causes cancer. "Just cut back on the sugar stuff", she said. "What does 'cut back' mean?" One piece of pie, or bowel of ice cream, or Snickers bar...ONCE A WEEK! "You got to be kidding," I complained. No use complaining. She is almost a doctor. She should know. Oh! and the one cigar I smoke about every other week (depending on how cold it is out-side...Marilyn won't lets me smoke cigars in the house). I'm checking the marriage vows. When was it the took the "obey" out of vows? Anyway, I told the lady AMD, I was sticking to the sugar free candy and occasional cigar. She forgot to ask me if I drank alcohol. So it's open season on the Maker's Mark and Dos Exes, I guess. We talked (I talked. She stood there) about the quality of living versus the length of living. I think the AMD needs hearing aids. She didn't hear a word I said.
ReplyDeleteYes, now I know why old people resist going to the doctor--"She might find something." When she does, she wants you to do something about it. But be sure to read the column for 2-17...
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