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I've become convinced that in ministry and really in all of life for that matter, wisdom requires the ability to see for those of you who are language buffs the Entomology of the word wisdom. If you trace

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all the way back, first of all, it has to do with being wise. But beyond that , all the way back to the proto indo european root. It means to see, to be wise

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is to see, to be wise is to have a vision. And as the wisdom book of proverbs reminds us without vision, the people perish. I'm reminded of an exquisite the jewish sabbath prayer I learned

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a few years ago in Shabbat service at Temple Emanuel in Dallas, expressed in achingly beautiful, lyrical prose . It's a prayer that God would open our eyes to see the wonder and the miracles that exist all

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around us. Days pass the years vanish and we walk sightless amid miracles Lord fill our eyes with seeing in our mind's with knowing, let there be moments when your presence like lightning illuminates the darkness in which

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we walk. Help us to see wherever we gaze that the bush burns un consumed and we clay touched by God, we'll reach out for holiness and exclaim and wonder how filled with awe is this place,

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and we did not know it. Blessed is the Eternal one, the Holy God. We walk sightless amid miracles. So help us to see It's a good prayer for us, isn't it? Because the

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fact is that we are surrounded by miracles. You and I, and what a shame if we fail to see them. About a year ago, I was raptured seriously in the twinkling of an eye.

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I left behind the life of a parish pastor and was translated and transformed into a seminary professor. Okay , I have former seminary professors of mine who would find a great deal of humor and all that.

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As many of you know, my job is to teach the practicalities of ministry, which I have learned in the day to day of that calling. My particular PhD stands for pastor having done that. Yeah

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, seriously, in the process of teaching, I've become convinced again that the heart of ministry is found in pulse admonition that we are to be stewards of the mysteries of God. That means that we are

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to be stewards and keepers of wonder and mystery and miracle. A pastor's job, perhaps above all else , is to help people see, to see the mysteries and the miracles that exist all around them.

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You know, there's a great difference between seeing and watching as someone has observed. Seeing another person is so much more, so much more than simply watching another person. Do you hear the difference when I

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see you? When I truly see you, then I just might come to no you to understand you in a way that will make it easier for me to truly love you. What if all I do

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is watch you? I am apart from you. I am removed from you and I'm still probably biased about you and judging you think about this. For instance, in race relations, simply watching another person

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renders the other person invisible or as a target. As ralph Ellison once said I am invisible simply because people refuse to see me being a steward of God's mysteries, begins with seeing each other fully compassionately,

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as paul said from now on. Therefore we regard no one from a human point of view, we come to see that we are not our own. Any of us were claimed by God, the creator

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of all. We're in dwelt and filled with God's spirit for the beloved Children of God. How wondrous is that experience of mystery and wonder is an awakening of an opening of the eyes, coming to see

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, see the world and each other in a whole new way. So we come to this little strange little story from second kings by the way, it's not an election eri I challenge you when you're out

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in the ministry. Some, some they do a long series of texts that aren't in the election. ErI This isn't an election very uh it doesn't get preached on very often for that reason. In fact

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, I don't think I preached on this text once in 41 years of ministry, but it's a good story and it's a story about mystery and wonder and miracle. It seems that the king of Arum in

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the Highlands to the east has discovered that there's a spy somewhere in their midst because somebody is informing the king of Israel of everything that the king of Aren seems to say. Or even think all his private

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thoughts and plans. And the culprit is the prophet Elisha who's really not spying. He's prophesying everything that he tells the king of Israel. He learns not through bugging the bedroom of the King of Aaron,

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but rather by hearing this directly from God passing on the message. That's what profits do. In any case, the King of Aaron decides to attack Alicia and he has Alicia surrounded with an army of horses

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and chariots. Alicia's servant is clearly frightened as he looks out on this scene and turning to the prophet Elijah, he says, Alas, master, what shall we do? Pretty good question, because there

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clearly surrounded in trouble. Elisha. The prophet then replies, do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them. Oh really? The servant looks out of the army,

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an army out there and wonders if the prophet has forgotten how to count. And then Alicia praise. Oh Lord, please open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the

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servant and he saw the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And this great scene when Alicia's servant is finally able to see . The situation is entirely changed because now he's what

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he sees as the army of God invisible before an army, not just of chariots but chariots of fire and awesome sight. Not a bad movie either. That makes Elijah servant realized that the spiritual power that

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surrounds them is infinitely greater than he had previously been able to see. And then surrounded by chariots of fire. Alicia praise again, You know when the prophet praise things happen and this time Elijah prays that

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the army, an army would be temporarily blinded or at least their eyesight blurred. And then the Alicia , with a great comic twist, comes down to these visually impaired soldiers who can't recognize him, don't

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even realize he's the Prophet Alicia and he says, hey guys wrong city follow me and they dutifully follow all the way to Samaria not realizing that their leader that they're following is the very profit that they came

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to attack. And then I told you this was an interesting story. Elijah, Elijah prays again that the arab me an army now can see again and they realize they've been duped. What are we doing

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here in Samaria with profit Alicia? And now Alicia servant with great glee. And I just imagine him clapping his hands in anticipation saying, father, can I kill him? Can I kill him? Yeah

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, and he's probably disappointed when Alicia answers no, instead ordering a feast for that foreign army. Now the scene is not on the battlefield, but a table filled with great feasting. How wondrous is that

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? To be a worker of wonders is to practice the art of surprise. To be a profit, is to be an expert in surprise. Once they've eaten their fill Alicia send them on home. And

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the author adds, with just a little irony that the Arabians never again came raiding the land of Israel . No surprise there. I want you to pause for a moment this morning and ask yourself who in

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your life has been an eye opener, who has been a steward of the mysteries of God, for you, who has opened your eyes to see, perhaps not horses and chariots of fire all around,

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but something new about God, all around, the grace of God. All around. If only your eyes are open to see. Think about that day in Dauphin, it's our story too. Sometimes we

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feel surrounded, surrounded by challenges. Certainly the church today, no secret is surrounded by challenges in a culture that seems blind to wonder in the mystery of faith. We read almost daily of the nuns and

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the dunns, I'm about to be done with the guns and the nuns who have turned away from the institutional church. We're surrounded by divisions in the church and in the world that threaten to undo us.

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My beloved Pc usa is exactly half the size it was when I was ordained. I sort of take that personally. Mhm. Because of all this were anxious. Our sermons and our blogs and our journals

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are asking Alicia servants question. Mhm. What shall we do? These are challenging times to be the church, challenging times to go to seminary and to even think about ministry. How many of you have

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friends who have said good naturedly? Of course. Are you nuts? And then comes a profit or pastor perhaps a teacher Stewart of the mysteries who prays that our eyes might be open to see something better

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. And when we open our eyes, we see not only the challenges that surround us, but beyond them. The greater host of God's hope and promise even chariots of fire perhaps. And with open eyes

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, we come to see that even in these perplexing times, even the challenges are surrounded by God who invites us to join in God's table of grace. Yeah, you're nuts. You're downright crazy with that

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wonderful pauline foolishness of God. And the fact just maybe that those who are crazy enough to be stewards of wonder in this broken world may just be the sanest ones here. All we need to do is

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open our eyes. God may be calling you to be an eye opener faithfully stewarding, stewarding the mysteries of God's wonder how to begin. That's always the question. Well, a good start is to begin

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by opening your eyes to see that which is unseen by so many and stewarding that vision for the rest of your life. And we can say again with the apostle paul. Therefore, since we are surrounded

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by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely and let us run with perseverance. The race that is set before us, looking to jesus

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, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who , for the sake of the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame and has taken his seat at the right hand of

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the throne of God. That same God says to you today, open your eyes and see, see that I've got just surrounded. Don't ever be afraid