Everyday Glory

Paying Attention

At the heart of Christian Spirituality is the simple ability to pay attention, to notice, to be aware.  When our eyes are open, it is amazing what we can see. 

Unfortunately we live in a culture that has conditioned us to remain largely unaware, to screen things out.  To some extent, this is necessary for survival.  With all of the sound and images with which we are bombarded through media in all its various forms, if we did not have the ability to do this we would go crazy from information overload.  But like all things that we experience in excess, as though "more" is always "better," the result is that our senses become dulled, and we miss the subtle beauty and quieter sounds that give a richness and depth to our lives.  And because God tends to not shoulder His way into our lives with a bull horn and light show, we too often miss the realization of His presence, and oblivious to what is most real in our lives, we plod along much more clueless than we need to be.

But what if we paused long enough to listen?  Focused, not so much on the next task to get done, or the next thing we find ourselves driven toward, and simply began to look around, notice, be aware of the quieter more subtle things around us?  Things that speak with a different kind of urgency in ways that we are not accustomed to listening to?  What if the very things we have been tuning out, turned out to be the things we most needed to hear, or see, or become aware of?

But what about those times when things are loud and powerful in ways that may be troubling and even destructive . . . things we cannot screen out or ignore?  Where is God in the midst of that?  How do we discern God's presence, even at those moments?  Sometimes at such moments it is God that gets screened out of our awareness.

One could describe a believer as someone who lives with a sense of awareness about things that non believers do not . . . an awareness that God is actually present throughout every portion of their day, and realizing this, finds that their life is changing in response to it.  When good things happen, they find joy in experiencing life the way they know God longs for it to be.  When tragic things happen, they sense the hurt that is deeply felt in the heart of God, and remain confident of God's ability to bring healing and restoration in spite of the pain and loss. 

This week Pastor Fidi explores of bit of what it means to live fully awake to  everyday glory.  If you would like to listen to the sermon again, or perhaps for the first time, you can access our sermon library by clicking here.