A Lenten Reflection
Knowing the Shepherd's Voice
"The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice." Jesus, speaking in John 10:3-4
This world is noisy, clamorous, deafening. We drown our selves in a sea of cacophony and uproar. Even the markets and grocers have talking advertisements now, competing with the music piped in through the store, telling you what to buy, what to cook, how to look. It is not enough that when we leave our homes, we are submerged in a world of sound...when we arrive home, to what should be a haven and harbor from the world, we bring the world's noise with us.
The televisions go on, warning of crisis and doom, cackling over scandal and gossip. How will we ever manage if we don't know what celebrity committed the latest outrageous act? How can we ever be prepared and safe if we don't listen to serious men, speaking in grave tones, informing us about the imminent disaster? Our computers and phones beep with updates and we rush to see what the latest tidbit could be. Sensory overload is now a normal state of being for many of us.
I am reminded, often, of the old children's story "The Loudest Noise in the World," by Benjamin Elkin. (I have loved stories since my youth, and collect old fables and tales.) It begins, "Once upon a time, the noisiest place in the world was a city called Hub-Bub. The people of Hub-Bub never talked, they yelled. They were very proud that their ducks were the quackiest, their doors were the slammiest, and their police whistles the loudest in the whole world.Their favourite song was: Slam the door Bang the floor Days we roar Nights we snore. Hub-Bub! Of all the noisy people in Hub-Bub, the noisiest was a young prince named Hulla-Baloo."
I think many of our cities are trying to become that next "Hub-Bub." We, as a culture, delight in the myriad of shades of noise....so many people keep the discordant symphony going as long as they're awake.
What are we hiding from, under that cloak of ever present din? What are we doing to ourselves by the constant immersion in it?
CS Lewis said "We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.” (From The Weight of Glory.)
In the quiet....in those precious times of silence...we must come face to face with our own thoughts; we are forced to look into, and touch, our soul. So many people find their thoughts, their tangled emotions, repellent, and they dare not look too closely at matters of the soul........for there we come squarely into the realm of God.
There are many, even within the church, who shy away from coming into the quiet, into the sacred, into the presence of God. We meet both our mortality of the body and the immortality of the soul in those moments; and that terrifies some of us.
So because we are not at peace with God, not at peace with who we are or how we're living, we turn up the volume of our lives. We keep the tv blasting, the radio blaring, the computer running and our phones now connect us to everything, everywhere.
There is a danger is this, my friends....for unless you are listening, in prayer, in the chambers of your soul, as you study God's word, you will miss the Shepherd's call. You cannot heed and follow what you do not hear....and there are wolves all around, ready to devour the sheep that fall astray.
We need times of quiet, of rest, to listen, pray, study and abide in God's word, in Christ's peace. What will you miss with the volume so loud?
You might ask...how did the young Prince, in Hub-Bub, fare?
The boy asked his indulgent father, for a peculiar gift. "l want to hear the loudest noise in the world," answered Hulla-Baloo. "I'll tell you what I've been wanting for a long time. I want to hear every person in the world yell at the same minute. If millions and millions and millions of people all yelled together, I'm sure that would be the loudest noise in the world."
The King agreed and set out to make it happen, sending decrees and commands, so that everyone would yell at the same time. But one woman thought..."I want to hear this noise too, so I'll be quiet and listen,"...and she told her husband, who wanted to hear it too....and they told their friends, and so on and so forth. And when the great moment arrived....no one yelled. It was silent for the first time ever in Hub-Bub.
Except for the clapping of the young Prince.
"For the first time in his life he could hear the singing of a little bird. He could hear the whispering of the wind in the leaves, the ripple of the water in the brook. For the first time in his life the prince heard the sounds of nature instead of the noise of Hub-Bub. The prince had been given the gift of peace and quiet and he loved it!"
That boy had missed out on so much already in his life by being surrounded by constant noise. We, my friends, can miss out on something far greater....hearing the call of our beloved Shepherd.
Take time to listen, to still yourself in prayer before the Lord. To bring peace into your home and your soul by turning off the devices and electronics at least a little while each day. To rest and escape the clamor of the world, and to find your refreshment in the presence of Christ Jesus.
"The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice."
Do you know His voice? Are you listening to it?
On towards the Cross,
-Beth Haynes Butler
Knowing the Shepherd's Voice
"The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice." Jesus, speaking in John 10:3-4
This world is noisy, clamorous, deafening. We drown our selves in a sea of cacophony and uproar. Even the markets and grocers have talking advertisements now, competing with the music piped in through the store, telling you what to buy, what to cook, how to look. It is not enough that when we leave our homes, we are submerged in a world of sound...when we arrive home, to what should be a haven and harbor from the world, we bring the world's noise with us.
The televisions go on, warning of crisis and doom, cackling over scandal and gossip. How will we ever manage if we don't know what celebrity committed the latest outrageous act? How can we ever be prepared and safe if we don't listen to serious men, speaking in grave tones, informing us about the imminent disaster? Our computers and phones beep with updates and we rush to see what the latest tidbit could be. Sensory overload is now a normal state of being for many of us.
I am reminded, often, of the old children's story "The Loudest Noise in the World," by Benjamin Elkin. (I have loved stories since my youth, and collect old fables and tales.) It begins, "Once upon a time, the noisiest place in the world was a city called Hub-Bub. The people of Hub-Bub never talked, they yelled. They were very proud that their ducks were the quackiest, their doors were the slammiest, and their police whistles the loudest in the whole world.Their favourite song was: Slam the door Bang the floor Days we roar Nights we snore. Hub-Bub! Of all the noisy people in Hub-Bub, the noisiest was a young prince named Hulla-Baloo."
I think many of our cities are trying to become that next "Hub-Bub." We, as a culture, delight in the myriad of shades of noise....so many people keep the discordant symphony going as long as they're awake.
What are we hiding from, under that cloak of ever present din? What are we doing to ourselves by the constant immersion in it?
CS Lewis said "We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.” (From The Weight of Glory.)
In the quiet....in those precious times of silence...we must come face to face with our own thoughts; we are forced to look into, and touch, our soul. So many people find their thoughts, their tangled emotions, repellent, and they dare not look too closely at matters of the soul........for there we come squarely into the realm of God.
There are many, even within the church, who shy away from coming into the quiet, into the sacred, into the presence of God. We meet both our mortality of the body and the immortality of the soul in those moments; and that terrifies some of us.
So because we are not at peace with God, not at peace with who we are or how we're living, we turn up the volume of our lives. We keep the tv blasting, the radio blaring, the computer running and our phones now connect us to everything, everywhere.
There is a danger is this, my friends....for unless you are listening, in prayer, in the chambers of your soul, as you study God's word, you will miss the Shepherd's call. You cannot heed and follow what you do not hear....and there are wolves all around, ready to devour the sheep that fall astray.
We need times of quiet, of rest, to listen, pray, study and abide in God's word, in Christ's peace. What will you miss with the volume so loud?
You might ask...how did the young Prince, in Hub-Bub, fare?
The boy asked his indulgent father, for a peculiar gift. "l want to hear the loudest noise in the world," answered Hulla-Baloo. "I'll tell you what I've been wanting for a long time. I want to hear every person in the world yell at the same minute. If millions and millions and millions of people all yelled together, I'm sure that would be the loudest noise in the world."
The King agreed and set out to make it happen, sending decrees and commands, so that everyone would yell at the same time. But one woman thought..."I want to hear this noise too, so I'll be quiet and listen,"...and she told her husband, who wanted to hear it too....and they told their friends, and so on and so forth. And when the great moment arrived....no one yelled. It was silent for the first time ever in Hub-Bub.
Except for the clapping of the young Prince.
"For the first time in his life he could hear the singing of a little bird. He could hear the whispering of the wind in the leaves, the ripple of the water in the brook. For the first time in his life the prince heard the sounds of nature instead of the noise of Hub-Bub. The prince had been given the gift of peace and quiet and he loved it!"
That boy had missed out on so much already in his life by being surrounded by constant noise. We, my friends, can miss out on something far greater....hearing the call of our beloved Shepherd.
Take time to listen, to still yourself in prayer before the Lord. To bring peace into your home and your soul by turning off the devices and electronics at least a little while each day. To rest and escape the clamor of the world, and to find your refreshment in the presence of Christ Jesus.
"The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice."
Do you know His voice? Are you listening to it?
On towards the Cross,
-Beth Haynes Butler
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