A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 14 May 2015. Presented to River Street Cafe, 11 December 2015.
Read Luke 2:25-29
One
day when my oldest daughter was in elementary school, she shared with us a
story called something like ‘Harold and Harold.’
There
is a family. The father is a fisherman. They live by an area of the ocean that
can be treacherous in a storm, near a place called Ledgy Island.
One
day – as I understand the story– a young boy named Harold and his pet parrot,
who is also named Harold, get up early. The boy Harold goes to play in the
attic and the parrot Harold flies to the dangerous Ledgy Island. As the other
members of the family wake up and get going for the day someone calls out,
“where’s Harold?” and the voice from the attic replies, “on Ledgy Island.”
The
parents start to panic. There is a storm brewing and Ledgy Island is a very
dangerous place in the storm so they call out the search parties to look for
him; they call all their relatives; they call the RCMP; they call the coast
guard; they call everyone they can think of to help find Harold the boy whom
they fear is lost in the storm.
Now of
course, it is Harold the bird who left for the island but he is fine. The
community is searching high and low for Harold the boy however, who never did
leave the safety of his own home. At some point during the day, Harold the boy,
who is playing in the attic hears all the noise as the searchers are gathering
below and decides to come down and check it out – it sounds like a party. He
walks into the midst of everyone and no one notices him. He sees people
watching TV with his face on the TV; he sees the RCMP in the living room. He
sees people everywhere and he sees neighbours bringing over food and Harold
figures this definitely must be a party.
Harold
then notices that everyone is looking sad. Nobody is having fun at this party.
Some people are crying; nobody looks happy so he pipes up from the middle of
this crowd of people who are looking for him and says, “Some party this is!”
It is
only then that they look up, take a break from what they are doing that see what
is right in front of their eyes. It is only then that they notice Harold is
actually standing in their midst – He was never really lost.
In our
Bible text today, this is exactly what Simeon did in the busyness of the Temple
– stopped, looked up and saw Jesus. Later in Luke Chapter 2, this is exactly
what Anna will do in the business of the Temple – stop, look up and see Jesus.
And today, this is exactly what we are called to do in the busyness of our own
lives – stop, look up and see Jesus.
What
are some of the ways today that we may be sadly distracted – even in the
churches - from finding Jesus is our midst?
[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Luke 2:21-39:
Harold, Harold, and Jesus Presented to Swift Current Salvation Army,
December 27, 2009 and October 26, 2014. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/10/luke-221-39-harold-harold-and-jesus.html
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