The yin and yang of signs includes those times when you are seeking direction or confirmation so request a sign (or two or thousand) and those signs that hit you over the head when you aren't looking. The former is Gideon's story, the latter is Moses' My story this week is a bit of both, but first their tales.
Gideon heard a call from God to do some fighting of the enemy to save the people and bring rest to the land, you know, the sort of average day at the office thing. Well, I can't say I blame him for requesting confirmation. Heck, I would have outright said "no, you have the power to do this non-violently God, get back to me with that plan" or at least I hope I would have, but then again, that's another story. Back to Gideon: he tested the message via fleece. He put the fleece out on the ground and told God that when he came and checked in the morning that it had better be wet and the ground dry if God expected Gideon to do as asked. When he arose to find just as he had demanded, Gideon did what any of us would do, call for best two out of three! Only he added the twist of doing it vice versa with the wet and dry. Lo and behold he got his demand met and off he went to lead the troops.
Moses, on the other hand, was minding his own business. That is, his business was livestock and he was minding them in the desert when he noticed a bush that was on fire but was not consumed. As signs go, I must say that that one is an impressive way to get someone's attention. Moses didn't miss it, nor did he ask for it. There is a bit of wisdom that says that the bush had been burning for generations, but Moses was the first to hear the voice of God in it. That says something about noticing signs.
So I was stuck in my car for far too many hours for a person with an attention span as short as mine as I was coming home from Hot Springs, North Carolina where I had not unexpectedly been inspired by attending the Wild Goose Festival. One great take away from this year's festival was that the future of Christianity is not just how those moving from Evangelicalism meet those coming from Liberalism but that we may be finding that labels are truly irrelevant when we are following the call of the Holy Spirit that is as untamed and unpredictable as a wild goose. I was feeling the joy and inspiration of the gathering, filled with the spirit of God that I had felt in the gathered followers...and stuck in the car with nothing to distract me. So in the course of that long drive (made a bit more exciting by the discovery that I had left my debit card at a restaurant in Hot Springs!) I was reflecting, praying, meditating and planning no less than three projects that follow up from the experience at the festival. I wanted to text an idea to someone I wanted to involve in one of those projects so I was looking for a rest area. I chose the West Virgina welcome center quite intentionally since I had yet to observe the West Virginia state bird while in that state.
So I was enjoying the break, getting some food and water while sending the text, stretching my legs a bit. I was only mildly aware of the birds around me. Then I realized that the Blue Jays I had noted were quite loud and agitated. It was classic mobbing behavior. My suspicions were confirmed when I moved toward the small stand of trees where the ruckus was occurring and also heard equally agitated Titmice. Whatever raptor had upset them escaped my detection, but it got me walking the picnic area enjoying the flora and fauna. I began hearing a chip note that I thought I knew. I followed it until I saw that it was indeed a Northern Cardinal, the state bird of West Virginia.
One task completed, I finished the second one of sending the text and started back to my car. Just as I reached it I saw a group of people entering a car a few away from mine. The driver looked familiar...because he was. It was Joel, a seminarian in the process of ordination within my denomination in the Association just west of mine here in Massachusetts, whom I had met for the first time at last year's Wild Goose Festival. I had not seen him since (because he has been living in New Haven), that is until this year's festival. And now, here it was a day after the festival ended, three states away (and still not in the state where either of us lives) that I saw him again! If the Cardinal was my Gideon-ish sign, this one was Moses-esque.
Some streams of Christianity put a heavy emphasis on seeking and interpreting signs. In fact, it is a style I had experienced and moved away from in my journey and last year's Wild Goose Festival was a time during which I had a great healing moment with some new friends in that camp. One of them challenged me this year to imagine having that all the time in my life and ministry. I don't see that happening, since I think that if I constantly sought signs I would tend toward Gideon more than Moses. But that doesn't mean that I can't see a wild and wonderful sign when it pops up right in front of me where I can't help but run into it. So I'm pretty sure that God has some plans and that the conversation with the invisible traveling partner was not in vain. I am comfortable leaving lots of wiggle room, not pinning down details, because signs are guideposts not footnoted guide books.
Still I have to say that among the birds at that rest area I'm a bit surprised i
there wasn't a goose present. Oh wait, there is that invisible
conversation partner...
