"Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches." (Rev. 2.7a)
Working means being productive. I'm told I have a strong "work ethic." It's a compliment, I'm sure. Well, most of the time. We who are seniors do worry that that trait might die off with us. If so, we're being short-sighted, however. Society-wide, if we don't do it ourselves, we demand it. Push. Fix. Make things happen. Get somewhere by the end of the day. Get to the point!
And, yet, if we pick up and read God's words with this working-agenda, which we see as virtuous, we forfeit something, I think. We're likely to push past what seems perfunctory, preliminary, or merely preface in order to get right to work, even when our "work" is studying the bible. With God, however, there are no little words. Or, perhaps, better, all little words might fall into the category that my Grandma used to describe just as I would be opening a very small birthday present, "Good things come in small packages." From God, they often do. And that foresight makes me open such verses with expectancy still.
That's the way I read the opening phrase in the verse above. I believe it is our Lord's hope -- our Lord's call -- our Lord's heartfelt desire that anyone who has an ear will particularly listen to this. Let anyone who wants to put his or her ears to work as they were intended to be utilized, be alerted to this: to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
What is the Holy Spirit saying to the churches? It strikes me as I type that that isn't an open-ended question. It isn't a question to which we should respond immediately drawing from what we already know or speculate about, based on our best judgment or what we hope for. But neither is it a rhetorical question. It has an answer. The way to discover that answer is to do what our Lord says. To listen. Not to read on rapidly without pause or deliberation. Not to pass judgment on all the others who obviously "need" to hear this lesson. But to listen humbly to the words that sound forth from these pages, to let them take voice and speak to us. All of us who are the churches. The Church, with a capital C. The left. The right. The mainstream. The fringe. All with ears. Many of us flawed and divided by what we've been listening to instead.
I'm thinking this little word-package might contain a prayer. What do you think?
Much Grace,
SH
