THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF CANTON
Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor
Sunday, February 1, 2021 ~ Epiphany V
Sermon: “On Eagles Wing’s”
Hebrew Bible Lesson: Isaiah 40:21-31
© 2021, Dr. Tamilio
This has been one of those weeks. Nothing bad — just one of those weeks. First, we had that snowstorm that was a whole bunch of slush. You cannot get rid of it with a snowblower. It just clogs the chute. Our friend COVID-19 is still with us. If you’re anything like me, you keep hearing of more and more people testing positive. You begin to do the math in your mind and ask: when is it going to hit me, or was I exposed to that friend who tested positive? I think there will be many cases of a new kind of anxiety that outlive the Coronavirus.
It is during these times when we need something sturdy to lean on more than ever. It is during these times that we need the Word of God as our foundation.
I found myself scouring the Lectionary this week: the readings from the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Psalms, the Epistles, and of course the Gospels. The passage that I just shared with you from the prophet Isaiah said, “Pick me! Pick me!” so I picked it. Who am I to argue with a prophet?
What caught my attention the most is the end — the last four verses, in fact. Isaiah says,
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Now, if you’ve spent any time around churches, and I know many of you have, this passage makes you think of that beloved hymn, “On Eagles Wings.” (You’re singing it in your head, aren’t you? I am. Don’t worry: I’m not going to serenade you.)
Isaiah is saying quite a bit here. It also pertains to our current predicament. We are also tired. We are also weary. We grow faint and find that life saps us of our strength. Life is hard enough. Add a pandemic to it and that takes the stress to another level.
But we are not alone. We know that — I’m not telling you anything new — but it helps to be reminded every once in a while. God renews our strength and gives us the will to forge ahead. God enables us to fly, as if he mounts us on the wings of eagles.
Have you ever seen the film footage of a drone? I am deathly afraid of heights. It is the one thing for which I have absolutely no stomach. Can’t stand them. However, I am fascinated by the bird’s eye view of a drone, sifting through the low cloud-cover, or hovering above a park. My local cable channel will sometimes show a video of a drone flying over parts of the city. On one hand, it is interesting — seeing where you live from a totally different perspective. On the other hand, it makes one imagine what it feels like to be a bird drifting over a grassy field on a lazy day; or maybe a seagull, if the drone is soaring over the waterfront, the waves lapping the shoreline; or maybe an eagle — the eagle that Isaiah writes about in today’s lesson.
Imagine what that is like — going from the pit of dejection to being on eagle’s wings. Better yet, imagine going from feeling as if your feet are tied firmly to the ground to soaring above the earth. I think that is what Isaiah is suggesting by using this image. God enables us to soar higher (metaphorically) than we think possible.
It reminds me of a story I once heard about a little bird. Actually, it is about several birds. One day they were standing below a huge mountain. They had never seen anything so big. It rose as high as the clouds. The birds wondered what the top of the mountain looked like. None of them had ever flown that high, so they decided to give it a shot.
The first bird gave it a shot. She began flapping his wings furiously and felt her body climbing high into the sky. She made it about halfway up the mountainside, but had to return. She was exhausted having expended all of her strength. “I can’t do it,” she told the others.
Another bird, having heard this, twitched his head to the side and looked up the mountain. He was determined to make it, seeing how far his friend, who was much smaller than he was, made it. He began flapping his wings and began to ascend. As his feathered body ascended, he began to feel his energy lessen. He pushed, and pushed, and pushed. As much as he tried, he also only made it about halfway up the mountain. Like his friend, he had to give up and drift back to the ground.
And the majestic eagle spoke and said, “Since I am the biggest of all of us, I should try to reach the summit of the mountain. I do not know if I can make it, but I have a plan, and this little bird here is going to help me.” He was referring to the smallest bird of them all. The rest of the birds, especially the two that tried to reach the peak but ran out of steam, almost laughed. They had no clue how the little bird could possibly help, but they were anxious to see.
The little bird hopped onto the eagle’s back — right between his wings — and the enormous bird took off. His lengthy wingspan gripped the air and the bird flew high above the others. The other birds on the ground watched as he climbed higher and higher into the sky. He flew to the halfway point and began to tire. The most glorious of birds, he continued to push himself. He was two-thirds up the mountain now. He wasn’t sure how much further he could go. When he was three-quarters of the way up, he knew he could not fly higher. This is where his passenger took over. He motioned for the little bird to take over. As the eagle began to descend, the little bird began to ascend. The little bird did not have as far to go, and so he went for it. The birds on the ground were in awe, because as the eagle returned to the base of the mountain, the little bird made it to the top. He did so with the eagle’s help — because he flew on the eagle’s back, because he was lifted up on eagle’s wings.
We can do the same, my friends. We can reach heights that we can only imagine. We can’t do it alone, but we certainly can if we rely on God to help carry us, to lift us from the finite limits of our human condition.
And He will raise you up on eagles’ wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand.
Amen.
Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor & Professor 