Soporific Sermon Offered by Doug Blair, Kitchener ON, 2022
Oh Pastor must have poured the concentration into that one. Bits of scripture from all over the place. Fast pace, lacking smiles or relaxation. But why did I find my attention waning? And many others around me in the pews. Third instalment in this particular teaching series. Only half connecting to what I am going through these days. Lots of uncertainty, loneliness and pain. I find that his approachable zeal is not the same as perhaps 18 months ago. Tired? Discouraged with the pull from so many demands? Yep he does appear constrained to attend everything going on. And much of it would be more appropriate down at the YMCA or the University. My Dad used to tell me about the thrilling spontaneity in the old church in his Native City. Prayer comments passing around the room. A testimony 1n
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about how some standard of scripture proved to be a life saver. A request to remember Sister So and So going through a health battle... Poor Pastor thinks that he must be the one to do it all; speak it all. No wonder he's tired out, if not worse. In ways it also might suggest that the people in front of him are not to be trusted. But the Holy Ghost does not look for certificates on the wall or a backwards turned collar. He looks for hunger; He looks for brokenness and reverence and a heart remaining teachable. Has the Pastor lost that connection? Might he be helped out a little by some of us. There are numerous resources and life experiences and discoveries OUT HERE IN US; THROUGH US. Sure hope that we might turn that corner. And soon.
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The Noise of the Wings
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I have just about had it, I tellya!
I go to their services and I watch plastic faces fall into line. I see them sit under pablum from the pulpit for far too long. I see the clock govern any sovereign move of God. I see pillar personalities who covetously guard their territory of service. Stubborn people doing what they have always done. Proving once again Newton's Law of Inertia. Xenophobes who doubt whether a stranger to their gatherings might have anything of anointing or brokenness to contribute. Full-fledged families dwindle. Old seasoned heads of Pentecost are shaking without any idea of alternatives. Talk of revival is just noise. New houses, new jobs, new connections, new exotic destinations get first billing. Summer hiatus in faith's swordplay apparently a sad and cowardly reality.
But listen to this voice...
Ezekiel 3:
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For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard
language, but to the house of Israel; 6
Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language,
whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. 7
But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not
hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted. 8
Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy
forehead strong against their foreheads. 9
As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them
not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. 10
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak
unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. 11
And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy
people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. 12
Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great
rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place. 13
I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that
touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing. 14
So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness,
in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me 4n
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It is the noise of the wings that I cannot shake. Most penetrating at the time of appearance of the four glorious creatures. When the Glory of God hushed my mouth, buckled my knees, as it did to faithful friends then with me. I cannot shake it, or settle for sweet stuff meeting with general approval. I must speak of it; yearn for it. God answers prayer. Labels: Faith Fable, Responsibility, Spiritual Warfare, Wakening
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