Two
Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday September 1, 2024
Scripture Reading: Genesis 32:22-32
Note: Every summer, we gather weekly
for Church Family Movie Nights; and this year we are linking our Sunday morning
worship to the movie we watched the previous Tuesday. This week’s reflection is
tied to the movie Field of Dreams. You can read a summary of this movie
by clicking here, or watch the trailer by clicking here.
An Iowa farmer walks into a corn field and hears a voice saying, “If you build
it, he will come.” If you have seen the
movie, Field of Dreams, you know that this is how the story begins. I don’t think that I could do justice to the
story by trying to outline the plot of it here, but as the story unfolds, the
voice continues to speak to Ray, the main character, eventually switching from
“If you build it, he will come,” to “Ease his pain,” and later, “Go the
distance.”
Ray
and his wife Annie both know that it seems ridiculous; but they listen to the
voice; and as the movie goes on, they continue to receive guidance from a
mysterious source. Ray has a vision of a
baseball field in his corn field. Ray
and Annie have a shared dream one night.
Ray has sudden moments of inspiration where he knows something, even
though he doesn’t know why he knows something.
A stadium sign board flashes a message that only he can see.
The
movie never tells us where these messages are coming from, or how. The movie ends with so many unanswered
questions.
But
we know that in real life, outside of the movies, we know that we too can
receive communication from someone that we can’t see, someone that we can’t
understand, messages that don’t always seem logical.
Just as Ray in the movie receives a series of messages in different formats that guide his actions through the movie, God communicates with us in so many different ways, guiding us on our life journey. Some people do hear a distinct voice, like the one that Ray hears, but I think that that might be one of the less common ways that God communicates with us. Sometimes God speaks to us through the voices of people in our lives. Sometimes God speaks to us through nudges that pass through our hearts or our minds. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought to myself, “I should call so-and-so to check in with them and see how they are doing,” only to make the phone call and discover that something significant is happening in their life. I’ve learned not to ignore those nudges.
In our Wednesday morning bible study, one topic that sometimes comes up is wishing that we could have experiences like some of the people did in biblical times – wishing that we could hear God’s voice clearly; wishing that we could walk with God as we would with a friend; wishing that we could see visions. Usually these conversations leave me with more questions than answers. I don’t know why some people experience God’s presence more immediately than other people. I don’t know why, when we are crying out for answers, God sometimes remains silent. But I also wonder if, when God communicates with us, do we ever brush it off as something that couldn’t really have happened?
I think that there might be some wisdom for us in the movie. As improbable as it might have been, and as unexpected as that first voice was, Ray and Annie don’t discount it. As the story unfolds, they continue to expect to receive communication from this mysterious source. If they had written that first voice off as indigestion, would the voice have persisted, or would the voice have gone on to find another farmer passionate about baseball?
If we expect God to speak to us, then we are much more likely to hear God’s voice than if we go through life assuming that God will never speak. For God longs to be in relationship with us, longs for our senses to be open to perceive their divine presence.
I also have to ask the flip side of the question – if we do sense something, how do we know it is from God and not from another source? Here, the tradition of the church is clear – we need to test the message, preferably with other people, against who we know God to be. We know that God is good, we know that God is love, we know that God is just, we know that God is merciful, we know that God is beauty. And so any message from God must be in keeping with what we know about God – God isn’t going to give us a message that works against love.
Sometimes
it is hard to know on our own, which is where other people can help us
out. Ray consulted with Annie about the
voice; we can talk to trusted people who share our faith.
And just as the results of Ray’s actions led to several points of reconciliation within family, as well as the fulfilment of dreams for a group of baseball players; when we act on what God is telling us to do, the love, the joy, the peace, the hope in the world will all increase.
When I was paring our summer movies with scripture readings, I had a lot of options to choose from for this movie. There are lots of stories in the bible of people communicating with God and acting on what God tells them to do. But I chose to pair it with my favourite story about Jacob, son of Rebekah and Isaac, grandson of Sarah and Abraham.
Jacob was a stiff-necked, stubborn sort of person – you may have gotten a sense of that from this story when he refuses to let the mysterious stranger go until he had received his blessing. They wrestle all night there on the banks of the river, and in the end, Jacob received not only his blessing, but a new name to go along with it – a new name that would bring with it a new calling.
And so my wish for all of us is that we might have the tenacity of Jacob – I’m going to call it tenacity now, rather than stubbornness, but choose whatever word suits you better. I wish for all of us the tenacity of Jacob, that we might move through the world expecting to encounter God in every moment, expecting to receive a blessing from God, expecting to be given a mission to complete. I wish for all of us the tenacity of Jacob, and also the courage of Ray from the movie – the courage to follow through on the mission we are given. Because if each one of us was able to do that, can you just imagine what we would be able to do. Never stop expecting, and never stop following, and we will be the hands and feet of Christ, bringing love and hope to the world.
And may it be so. Amen.
Field of Dreams – a baseball movie
that is about so much more than baseball.
Photo Credit: Oregon Department of Agriculture on flickr
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