Where is my vision?

After a two day trip I planned to blog yesterday. The computers at work were down and I was thwarted. This technology makes it easy to do so many things, but a blip can make it impossible to do anything.

I wanted to reflect on visions. In the Gospel, Luke shares the story of two people going to Emmaus, who encounter the Risen Lord. Jesus explains to the pair all the Scripture related to Him. Their hearts burned with fire as they listened. It is the one place and time recorded in the Bible that I most wish I could be present. I would love to be with Jesus, recently raised from the dead, explaining how the OT is fulfilled in His life and death. The couple returns to the apostles, who declare Jesus is alive. They also say some women  had "a vision of angels."

A vision of angels; that sounds glorious!

Luke's Acts yesterday also contained stories of Cornelius and Peter, each of whom had a vision. God, speaking to the faithful Gentile soldier (who, by the way, was not asked to renounce his military vocation), makes the next step in opening the Gentile world to the Good News. Peter's vision (a vast array of animals, including 'unclean' animals: slaughter! eat!) is cryptic. He is told, "What God declares clean, do not call unclean!" (three times) Later, Peter connects this to Gentiles, and Conrnelius and his whole family will receive the Holy Spirit and be baptized.

I think the visions indicate God intervening. He acts from the outside to change the flow of events. Rather than control the process from within (He could simply have Peter go baptize Cornelius), He provides a vision to each man, indicating that He desires them to do His bidding. One gets the impression that Peter receives a very clear vision, but not an immediate indication of what it means. That is important, too. Sometimes God works slowly with us. Everything is not crystal clear and it takes time to know and understand. Even in visions, God works slowly.

All these visisons lead many of us to ask, "Hey Lord! Where is my vision?" In an age where unbelief is rampant. In a time when the church is in decline. In an historical period when so much paganization is taking place and so many battles are being lost, it does seems like many of us could use a booster of grace. A vision of angels here, a divine direction there, just some amazing moments with God to recharge the "faith batteries" and keep us going. In fact, some people drift from the faith because they have received none of the amazing things they read about in the Bible. "Where is my vision?" they ask, as they slowly walk away from God, faith and church.

As a young man I often prayed for such things. I longed to have that deep connection with God that the saints seemed to enjoy. The last ten years I have grown more at peace with the ordinary and mundane life I live. I do sense God at work. I think that is the norm. Perhaps we read of the visions because even then such things were rare and worthy of note. Maybe Luke wrote it down because he wanted to remember what happened. Maybe even Luke himself wondered, "where is my vision?" as he wrote Acts and the Gospel!

What I have come to believe is that there is no vision which could add to what we already believe. We have seen the OT references to Jesus and studied them. We know the Lord is risen. We understand the mission of the church, to Jew and Gentile. We have the Bible and multiple tools to read and understand. We have two thousand years of "acts of the apostles" to reflect upon.

Sure it would be nice if all of us had that special, mind blowing moment where God gave us some special vision, but those visison always seemed to occur for a specific reason. It changes the flow of history. You and I are not called to such a task. Perhaps we seek clarity about what God wants us to do. Even so, our mission and ministry is not of that level. We are not changing the course of church history (like Peter or Paul). God is satisfied with our long, slow struggle to do our task. Even if it takes us a while to translate the message into our own concrete lifes, God is subtly guiding.

God does not give visions (in the Bible) for the personal enjoyment or benefit of the recipient. The vision is for the benefit of others. It is to steer the ship (church) ever slowly in a new direction. Visions provide the 'chosen one' (visisonary) with the information they need so that God can continue to save His Chosen People and creation.

Even if we have never had a vision, we still have a vision, our vision is in the Bible, interpreted for us through Chruch Tradition. Sometimes it is not totally clear to us. Sometimes we move in the wrong direction. Sometimes we do not get it right at all. Yet, God is among us [Emmanuel] and if we pray, read, study, listen, watch we will have our vision, a peak at God's vision. It may be in a mundane, ordinary way, but that is okay. God has given the vision. God gave it in the way God chose is best. For the rest of us, ours is a 'secondary vision'. We are the beneficiaries of the visions  of received by others.

But we need not despair. There will be a day. Some day, we will all have our visison. We will see Him face to face. We will see and know and understand on that day.

Some day...