The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied. The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”
Jeremiah 1:11-12
“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Acts 7:56
The music was too loud at the party. I was doing well not to have a raging headache, though that would come later. I’m sure there’s a good reason for having music played so loud, I’m not sure it’s a good enough reason to justify the headache.
Thankfully the person with whom I was having the conversation was close enough to share without screaming and saying “What?” all the time. He was enthused about his specialist subject, the church. I was intrigued to hear his views. These would not be views those of his father’s generation would comprehend, let alone share.
The thing about refreshing, radical and inspiring ideas about church, is that they’re not new. They can be traced to what’s written about in scripture. There is such a gap between the life we see in those episodes and what we do now, that merely suggesting following what scripture suggests is deemed revolutionary and subversive.
I heard what the other brother said and reflected on it over the marinated chicken. It lead me to consider a game show I used to watch called Catchphrase. The tagline by the host Roy Walker was to look at the animated clue in front of you and ‘say what you see’.
I was also reminded of some of the prophetic tradition of God sharing what He had to share through the vision of the prophet. It was the exercise of going beyond physical sight to see the things God would need His servant to see so as to share them with His people.
There is enough material around to know that God still challenges to say what we see. Not just with the eyes of the world, but see what God sees to say what He wants us to say. It’s not a new thing for me, but it was something I thought would be a good exercise to go over again.
I’m dedicating the month of June to share some of those observations to hopefully stimulate us to work towards what He wants us to see, for His glory.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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