The St. Louis region of the United States is an interesting place to live, especially when if you choose to listen to our weather forecasters. The professional weather forecasters on the radio and television stations are fairly accurate, if you guage accuracy on a 24 hour window. Outside of 24 hours, they are a lot like some of our better baseball players: able to get a hit often enough to bear your full attention every time they are at the plate, but missing often enough that very few will bet the farm on them. I've thought about weather forecasting for some radio station . . . Lord knows I could be nearly as accurate and I certainly have the face for radio . . . but then, some smart aleck pastor on a blog page would make fun of me and I would have to quit and reclaim my amatuer status forecasting the week ahead with my trick knees.
All that aside, one of the things I love most about this region - and its love/hate relationship with the weather forecasters is our penchant for running out for 'necessities' every time the forecast is for ice, snow, freezing rain, or heavy thunderstorms. Given the regularity of any of these happening on any given day and, sometimes, a couple of them on the same day, the local grocery stores, hardware stores, and convenience stores must make a mint on people 'battening down the hatches' every time the forecast includes something potentially perilous. Sometimes one has to wonder if there isn't a collaborative plot with kickbacks involved in forecasting . . . but that would involve a level of working together most Midwesterners, with their 'three foot of personal space' requirement, would find totally unacceptable, so, though it might happen on the coasts of our country, it would probably never happen here. Ah, but everyone enjoys a conspiracy theory now and again.
We Southern Midwestern folk are really amatuers at dealing with the messiness of winter, unlike our more professional Northern cousins: a few inches of snow or ice and we are hoarding bread and milk, while stocking up fuel for the generator. Just the thought of heavy weather and being stuck at home more than a few hours makes us shiver in our boots and do completely irrational things, like purchase hundreds of pounds of ice melt and sand and kitty litter, or stock up on dry goods and drinking water, or run to the gas station and fill every gas tank and container with extra gas to be sure we have enough to see our family through the apocolypse. It is in our genes. Not that being prepared isn't a good thing, but folks in our area tend to so 'prepare' that our relatives up north shake their heads in embarrassment even to be associated with us at this time of year.
Ironically, mention in church on a Sunday morning that the kingdom of heaven is coming and all you will illicit is a yawn and feigned interest. After the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus begins his ministry with the words, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." (Mt. 4:17 NRSV) The chances of the Weather Station having a large audience intently watching as the next winter storm moves in, than will be in attendance in church as this text is preached, is pretty good. There is nothing like an impending natural disaster to capture our attention and move us to the stores. Mention the kingdom of heaven . . . and few will move to the churches.
It is an irony which was not lost on Jesus, as he looks over Jerusalem in His final days and says, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (Mt. 23:37-39 NRSV) How often Jesus would gather God's children together under the protective shelter of God's healing love in the face of the pending storm - and rather than gather in preparation and shelter, the very audience being addressed kills the forecasters and stones the local emergency shelter operators. There seems to be a disconnect between our need to save our lives and our unwillingness to admit we need help saving our souls. Prepared to the hilt for one - and angry the other has to be considered. Such irony.
Maybe it would be easier, even safer, to be a weather forecaster. Impending weather fronts are interesting and sell advertising. Proclaiming the nearness of the kingdom of heaven just isn't the sort of news people are ready to hear. Weather forecasters are informative and prophets are inflamatory. Besides that, weather forecasters are paid better.
Hmmmmmm, now there is irony.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Don
No comments:
Post a Comment