The Whisper
“American flight 3803 to Dallas is ready for boarding…”
… the gate agent announced, bringing my mind back to the painful realities of the next 48 hours. After nearly three months of traveling, Caryl and I were in our little Arkansas airport, heading back to Asia. We had traveled thousands of miles, telling the story of our Earth Mission team to anyone who would listen. We showed homemade videos from the jungle clinic, shared pictures from the front line team, and told the heartfelt stories of the people we love in Burma and Thailand.
Even as I presented OUR STORY, seeing the pictures of my friends on the screen again and again, my heart ached. Many of them were in harm's way, putting their lives on the line for the sake of others. But I think this time, people also somehow tuned into that ache. Church congregations, old friends, new friends, and family, though busy themselves, responded with the “rarest and purest form of generosity.” They gave us their attention.
In the context of our instant-everything culture, the political angst of our times, and even the online snares for our attention, we found a generosity rare and so inspirational to us. Considering the challenges ahead—of managing a medical and engineering training program in the war-torn jungles of Burma with very little margin—I also knew we were going to need more than just human encouragement. We were going to need a large-scale miracle.
We travel back to the US every year. This time, however, something felt different. As we shared, people focused their attention on our Karen friends. It seemed many folks were hearing something other than my presentation. To be honest, I often just felt old, tired, and flat. Yet repeatedly, I saw tears and the looks of vicarious longing for change. I told of men and women who have sacrificed everything for an ideal. I showed my friends selflessly serving others in Christ’s name to the end of themselves—friends who, despite the threats of bombers and drones, get up in the middle of the night to do an emergency C-section. Again and again.
I told of our staff and graduates who climb out of the protection of muddy trenches to the raw vulnerability of an operating room tent. Again and again.
And a whisper breezed through the audience.
Though I’ve told these stories hundreds of times, even I felt the change. This time, a band of brothers and sisters stood before us against the forces of evil with music coursing through their souls and ours. And in our attentiveness, a whisper called to us.
Now, sitting on the plane somewhere over the Pacific, still reflecting on our time in the US, other “coincidences” start coming to mind. In the last few months, several very capable people have suddenly joined our team. Others gave extra or offered their services. I remembered all the powerful, even visionary devotions Caryl and I shared over the last three months.
Interestingly, wild rumors of an internal coup in Burma suddenly swamped social media at the beginning of our return journey. The dictator still seems to be in power, but the timing of it hinted of other possibilities. I was literally sitting at the gate on the first leg of our flights back when I read the news. Was it just another coincidence, or a whisper of things soon to come? Since the war started over three years ago, many others and I have prayed for the protection of our people. I have not prayed that the bombers and drones don't hit us. We can always replace things—just protect our people. Many of our staff have lost friends. Yet, incredibly, none from our organization. Coincidences? Or a whisper from another place?
Burma is a failed state whose chaos threatens to spread. In fact, a good deal of the world swirls in similar struggles, although perhaps less violently. For now. We are heading back to try to address overwhelming needs with a pittance.
And yet… there is the whisper. From the one that can put order to chaos. The one that has already created good from nothing. The one who gives life to the dead. St. John names it the Logos. It was from the beginning. It was with God, was God, and all things were made through it. If we can but learn to live attentively to the Logos all around us, practice arranging our thoughts around it, dedicate time to listening for it, and allow the divine poetry to sing to our innermost being, without trying to change, manipulate, control, or diminish it... the ethereal whisper breezes through our consciousness like a wind sweeping over the waters. I believe that's when we tap into the power of the universe.
Living in the light of God's incarnation, our prayers can move mountains. Sure, there will be crosses to bear. But we begin to see an astonishing new world, one bursting with His beauty and glory at every turn. We become a part of those intrepid bands of brothers and sisters standing against the forces of evil with music coursing through our souls. That is a different picture entirely.
Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God, But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round and pluck blackberries
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
A few practical thoughts about attending to the whisper...
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said ....” — Genesis 1:1-2 NRS
“Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love.” —Simone Weil
“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'” —John 8:30-32 NKJV
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” —Philippians 4:8-9
By attention, I allow the reality of the other to be present to me on its terms, so that I stand before another in mutuality. Then I reverence what I have given attention to; that is, I hold the other, precisely as other, as different from me, yet present to me, in esteem and in care. I do not reject, but I accept. I do not modify, diminish, or dismiss the other. I care for that other reality in all its uniqueness, so that the encounter becomes a holy place. When I live with such attentive and reverent presence to another, then, Ignatius says, we can expect to find devotion—a term of rich significance for him. Devotion is the discovery of how God dwells within this reality—for example, this person, this poem, this experiment, this place—long before I come on the scene. For Ignatius, the resolution of every human encounter should be the discovery of God’s presence.
https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/offices/mission/pdf1/ju19.pdf
One of my favorite devotions that has so often spoken powerfully to me is a short, free daily podcast called Pray as You Go. https://pray-as-you-go.org. Try it!!
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