Fluttering Wings

This is a short talk that I gave this past weekend. Enjoy.

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In Genesis 1:2 it says, "The earth was astonishingly empty, with darkness upon the surface of the deep, and the Divine Presence hovered upon the surface of the waters."

This word translated as "hovered" is "mi-rah-khefet" in Hebrew. It can mean hovered, or brooded. In Isaiah it is used to describe a mother eagle fluttering her wings as she feeds her young. It can take on the meaning of "tender care".

God is like the deep dark water. He is mystery. We cannot comprehend Him. In Isaiah 55, God declares, "My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways."

But we are created in God's image and are also like the deep dark waters. We are mystery. All of us have struggled to understand our motivations, attitudes, and desires. We are complex beings. In Psalm 139 it says "I praise you Lord, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

But God knows us. We tend to think of God as being out there beyond the stars, which is indeed true. But He is also closer to us than we are to ourselves. God is also deep within us. He hovers over the deep dark waters of our soul. He broods over all of us like a mother eagle. He stirs these deep dark waters calling us to greater growth and healing.

We tend to think of God calling those who are far away from, those who don't know Him. But this is just the beginning. We are still in much need of healing and growth. He hovers over the deep dark waters of our soul, fluttering His wings, stirring us.

But have you ever heard a bird flutter its wings? It is a very soft sound. We have to strain our ears, we have to pay attention, to hear the soft fluttering of a bird's wings.

So, too, God's fluttering over the depths of our soul is the faintest of sounds. We have to train our ears to hear it. We do this through practicing silence, solitude, prayer, and meditation. We can also hear those faint flutterings in sermons, songs, friends, art, or nature. In all of these, we can hear God brooding over us if we but pay attention.

And just as God's hovering over the deep dark waters of primeval earth was the beginning of creation, so too can His hovering over us be the beginning of our re-creation each and every day! All too often, we blunder through life, making way to much noise to notice the soft flutterings of the Spirit's wings. I urge all of us to take up the practices that will allow us to hear them and thereby hear God's call to greater growth and healing.

I would like to end this today with a poem that I wrote:

Ah restless Spirit,
who hovers over
the deep dark waters
of my soul.

With the faintest stroke of Your wings,
You stir the waters.
Faint ripples radiate across
the surface of the deep.

I strain to hear
that faintest of sounds.
What are You calling me to,
O Holy Wings?

What is the next step of my creation?