2020 Daily Devotion - Day 193

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In my book, Tales for the Pulpit (page 15), I tell a story I first heard in a sermon by my good friend, Pastor Ray Christenson. It is the story about a pastor who would regularly visit a farm family outside of town. He would visit them particularly because the farmer’s wife was blind. Each time the pastor would visit, things would go along like any of the other visits he made. He would enjoy talking with the farmer and Mrs. Syverson. They would tell the pastor of how their families came from Norway and how they settled in Minnesota. They would share their remembrances of family traditions and customs. It was always an enjoyable time together. The pastor would then try to direct the visit toward spiritual matters. He would offer to pray or share Holy Communion. After prayer and Communion, the farmer would excuse himself and go outside to continue his chores around the farm. When this happened, the pastor noticed something he could never understand.

As the farmer would work around the farm, the pastor noticed that he always whistled. In and of itself, this was not very strange. What he found odd was it was never a tune the pastor could recognize. So, on one of those many visits, as the pastor got into his car to drive back to town, he gathered the courage to ask the farmer about his whistling. “Mr. Syverson,” he asked, “I notice when I am visiting with your wife, you are out here working. And while you do, you are whistling, but it is never a tune I recognize. What are you whistling?” “Pastor,” the farmer replied, “you know that my wife is blind and while I am out here working, I whistle so that she will know I am near.”

This is what God has done in our Lord Jesus Christ. He actually became a man and entered our world to redeem and rescue us. This is why I often call Him the “down-to-earth God”. And today He is still coming to us in down-to-earth ways through His body and blood in Holy Communion. This Sacrament is like the whistling of the farmer; another reminder He is near; another reminder He has not forgotten you. When you receive Holy Communion (October 3 at the on-campus service or October 4 online), listen for the whistling of God.

Luke 22:19-20 ESV
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

Pray with me:
Lord Jesus, as You come to us this weekend through Your body and blood, speak a new word into our lives. It just seems like if we listen hard enough, we will actually hear you whistle when it is proclaimed, “The body of Christ given for you…..the blood of Christ given for you.” In Your holy name. Amen.

Yours because of Him,
Pastor John R. Steward
Senior Pastor
Mount of Olives Church
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