There is no limit to the ways God may make Love known to us, to get our attention, to wake us up to the Divine Presence in our lives and in our world. For Ezekiel, in our lesson from the Hebrew scriptures today, it was a rattling noise in the valley of the dry bones. Throughout scripture we find a wide variety of different examples. For Jacob, who was running away from his brother’s wrath, God came to him in a dream of a ladder reaching up to heaven, supporting ascending and descending angels with God standing by. (Gen.28:12-16) On Mt. Horeb, after not finding the Holy One in the sounds of earthquake, wind, and fire, Elijah heard God in “the sound of sheer silence.” (I Kgs.19:11-12) Zechariah, who was to become the father of John the forerunner, was going about his routine liturgical responsibilities in the temple when he was stunned into muteness with the divine message of John’s impending birth. (Lk.1:8-23) At Jesus’ baptism, he heard the voice of God proclaiming, “You are my Son, the Beloved. In you I am well pleased,” just before the Spirit led him into the wilderness of temptation. (Mk.1:8-11) On the road to Damascus aiming to persecute Christians, Saul, who was to become the apostle Paul, was struck blind as he heard the voice of Christ Jesus telling him, “It hurts you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 26:12-15)

It does hurt us to kick against the goads, to rebel against God, to try to separate ourselves from God and others. During this season that is now waning down, we are called to pay attention to how we wander away from the Divine, to how we miss the mark day by day, to all the barriers we erect to avoid God’s loving grace. Having done that, we have the opportunity to repent and return to the Beloved yet again.

Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, we would be wise to open our hearts to the Divine Presence however it manifests. It helps us to be expectant, to keep alert, to recognize any rattling noise the Holy One may use to draw us into God’s loving, redeeming embrace.