Although it’s the hurricane season here in the Caribbean, the past few weeks have been very hot and dry. With such hot days, I tend to leave the windows of my car down to keep it cool. I’ve convinced myself that since there are no dark clouds on the eastern horizon that there will be no RAIN. A few weekends ago I did what I usually did and was taught an important lesson. Even though the sky was still blue and there was a brisk wind blowing, I began SMELLING something familiar. It was the SMELL that rises up when RAIN falls on hot tar or concrete. Initially I thought that can’t be since I didn’t hear the sound of any RAIN drops on the roof. The RAIN was not heard and it could hardly be seen. But you could certainly SMELL it. I only knew that it was RAINING not because of the sense of sight or hearing. It was the sense of SMELL that informed me of what was taking place on the outside. The evidence that I couldn’t hear or hardly see I could SMELL. Immediately I had to run outside to get the windows of the car closed. Our FF for today is a call for us to do something that we may not have done in a while: SMELL THE RAIN!
You know when you’re passing a restaurant because you can SMELL the food. You know that tell that the pot on the stove may be burning because of what you SMELL. A parent knows that a new born needs a diaper change because of how the infant SMELLS. It is true therefore that based on what we SMELL then we respond. So the parent cleans and changes the soiled diapers. We run to the kitchen and turn off the burning pot on the stove. Our mouths salivate at the SMELL of the restaurant and we make a beeline and go order dinner. It is tragic not to be able to SMELL. If we can’t SMELL we may miss so much of what’s taking place around us. Our ability to SMELL THE RAIN lets us know what is happening on the outside and determines the actions we take.
If we want to know just how essential RAIN is, ask anybody who has had to go through a period of drought. RAIN is powerful! It causes the earth to spring forth with new life. But the same RAIN that triggers new life can demonstrate another power. Floods are caused by too much RAIN. When that happens, water will run in its natural course and while doing so will take with it everything in its path. When we SMELL THE RAIN it is not only an indication of what is happening right now. It could also be a taste of what is yet to come. For persons who are in a place of drought, the SMELL of RAIN is not just good news. It’s great news!
Beginning today, the Moravian Church in the Eastern West Indies Province will be gathered for its tri-annual Provincial Synod. Through our discussions, worship and fellowship we seek to determine the course that God would have us follow as a Church in advancing the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ, the Chief Elder of the Church is calling us to SMELL THE RAIN. It is a call to use one of the senses that we don’t normally use with a regular activity. We regularly meet every three years. But this time, our desire is to SMELL THE RAIN. That requires seeing the common through uncommon eyes. We don’t usually SMELL RAIN to know that it is RAINING. Typically, we see RAIN coming or hear it falling. God somehow tends to use the familiar as a means by which we encounter the divine. As familiar as synod might be, this time around the prayer is that as a Church we may SMELL THE RAIN.
This is the season for it to RAIN in more ways than one. And because of that our prayer is that all of us who are a part of the universal Church as the body of Christ might recognize that it is RAINING! This spiritual RAIN represents God’s presence among us. And because God is here as it RAINS let’s pray especially that our spiritual senses be so heightened that as a community of believers we may all be able to SMELL THE RAIN.
Mikie Roberts (Rev)
Here’s the link for the blog. Join in the discussions.
http://moravians.net/serendipity/index.php?/categories/1-Friday-Focus
