I was thinking about the text from Deuteronomy – a prayer known as the Shema – Hea O Israel, the LORD your God, the LORD is one.
Do you like airports? I think that the opening and closing scenes of ‘Love Actually’ are brilliant in depicting the emotions of love that you see at an airport. Hugs of fairwell, hugs of hello, in all their various forms.
I was at Luton recently and got chatting to a woman in the queue for baggage drop off. Her daughter had done a degree in this and now in that and now was training in something else, ‘I mean whats wrong with people today unable to focus?’. I said your daughter must be very clever. Mum and Husband were off to Tel Aviv for some sun, swimming and shopping. He was picking up the tension in the air so he’d nipped off to get some shekels though he probably should have bought a coffee.
Behind me in the queue is a vocal chap who tells me his entire itinerary. I only understood Beersheva and Jerusalem. He was very jovial.
In the queue to take off your shoes, a woman started telling me how she was only going to Glasgow for the day. She knew that her daughter would be mad at her for such a flagrat abuse of the environment but what price to put on friendship.
Love is all around.
These different people carrying their woes and worries and anxieties and hopes. I didn’t discern a wink of faith (and i was wearing my collar) and yet here before me was a lot of faith if i had ears to hear it.
I did find that by saying ‘Hello’ and ‘where are you off to’ had the effect of calming me down, of helping me to be less wrapped up in myself (I had spent a good five minutes even doubting that i was at the correct airport. Honestly, our fears can do funny things to us if we give them enough rope.
Hear O Israel – what do we hear? I had left to the tune of seagulls and gamboling foxes and arrived amongst who for a short while would like to leave their worries on another island as they flew off to a week of hope.
And then hearing a cacophany of names, waving of placards, and hugs. Hear O Israel – ah the joy of hearing your name!
And here that name is spoken by God. Feel the love in Jesus calling “Mary”, and perhaps you might hear in a moment of prayer God calling your name. How precious the opening lines of this prayer as it challenges us to stop and wonder what is it we are hearing? and through the bustle of our day listen for God calling your name – as He did and does call Jews today.
Hear O Israel (Deut 6verse 4 i think)
Photo is of Davids Tower in Jerusalem