Mourning Doves…with the nicer weather returning, so are the Mourning Doves. Every summer I’ve lived here in Mitchell it seems that a lot of the birds congregate here in the northern part of town where I live. I hear their haunting call every morning. I’m guessing many of you hear them too. So, my question is, what do you hear them saying? I’m serious! When you hear their call, what do you hear? What does it sound like to you?
To me the cadence of their call has a specific pattern and sound that reminds me of a question I heard an individual ask a while back. The cadence of the question asked by the speaker is the same as what I hear from the mourning doves. In the words of my dad, who when he was in the Army, was a company clerk and communications person, so he knew and used Morse Code…(and knew it still until the day he died). He would have described the cadence as “short…loooong…short” or “dit…daaaaaa…dit.” So, the question I hear being asked in those bird calls?? “Who are you?” Emphasis on the “are.” “Who are you?”
So, how would you like to be greeted by that question every morning as you head out for the day?? Actually, it’s a great question to start your day with? Who are you?? It is a very powerful question if you really stop and truly consider it.
My Mourning Dove experience reminds me of a story I heard a while back about a Rabbi from many years ago who was running an errand. He took a wrong turn in his village and ended up at a military garrison. As he approached the Post, the guard on duty hollered out, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
The Rabbi stopped and considered the questions. Then he responded to the soldier, “Young man, how much are you paid in a week? When the guard answered, sounding a bit bewildered, the Rabbi said, “I’ll pay you twice that amount if you’ll come to my home every morning and ask me those same two questions. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
These are two important questions. Important for individuals and important for the Church as well. So much so, that our church leadership is taking this year (2024) to ask those questions in our own way. We are focusing more on “Why are we here?”…as in, in this community. Or another way to put it is, “What is our purpose?” Why does God have us in this community at this particular time?” I’d invite each of you to pray for our church’s leadership as we ask these questions and listen carefully and wait patiently (or not so patiently) for the response we hear from God.
But, back to us as individuals, how would it change your life or the direction of each day if you had someone asking you those questions? Actually, maybe you can have that experience. Listen for the mourning doves in the morning. They’ll start you out with, “Who are you?” Then you can fill in the rest. “What are you doing here?” Part of the answer, I believe, is remembering each day that we are children of God…and that what we are doing here is trying to touch this world…or touch another person with the Love of Christ. That’s Kingdom Living made simple.
Pastor Keith