Thursday

Psalm 32

Joshua 4:1-13

2 Corinthians 4:16—5:5

We’ve created microscopes to see microbes and even atoms. We’ve created telescopes so we can see stars and galaxies light years away. We like to be able to see what is invisible to the naked eye. I remember being given a microscope kit for Christmas one year from my grandparents. It fascinated me that I could see things through it that were invisible to my eyes. We don’t have a device to see invisible spiritual realities, at least not one we put up to our eyes. If we did, what mysteries might we see? If I held it up to my eye right now, I wonder how many angels I might see? We may not have a scope to put up to our physical eyes, but God has given us tools to be able to know these invisible realities are real. We put the eyes of faith up to these tools and come to “see” and believe many things.

The best things about Christianity are invisible. In fact the most valuable things we believe are invisible. I can’t see heaven, but I value it. I can’t see Jesus, but I believe in him and put my life in his hands. I can’t see the event in history that saved my life. I can’t see angels every day, but I did once in my youth at the consecration of the Eucharist and I believe in the reality of my own guardian angel. When I’ve watched people die, I couldn’t see them leave their bodies, but that’s what I believe happened at death. I believe that I am more than a body. I have a soul. I can’t see it. All of these invisible things, I believe and I value. I value them with my life. In fact if you were to ask me which I value more, I value the invisible realities more than the visible realities. I believe that everything I can see with my eyes is temporary, but there are permanent and eternal things that I cannot see with my eyes. I believe that baptism is more than water and that Christ is truly present in, with and under the bread and wine in Holy Communion. I believe.

Maybe you have heard the story about the family of mice who lived all their lives in a large piano. To them, in their piano-world, came the music of the instrument, filling all the dark spaces with sound and harmony. At first the mice were impressed by it. They drew comfort and wonder from the thought that there was someone who made the music--though invisible to them--above, yet close to them. They loved to think of the Great Player whom they could not see. Then one day a daring mouse climbed up part of the piano and returned, very thoughtful. He had found out how the music was made. Wires were the secret; tightly stretched wires of graduated lengths that trembled and vibrated. They must revise all their old beliefs; none but the most conservative could any longer believe in the Unseen Player. Later, another explorer carried the explanation further. Hammers were now the secret, numbers of hammers dancing and leaping on the wires. This was a more complicated theory, but it all went to show that they lived in a purely mechanical and mathematical world. The Unseen Player came to be thought of as a myth--. But the pianist continued to play.

When we develop the eyes of faith we see that what is of greatest value are things we cannot see with our physical eyes. What do you believe? CC