1622AFC052716 – Wandering Off
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Psalm 119:10 – 10 With my whole heart I seek you;
do not let me stray from your commandments.
E pili mau na pomaika‘i ia ‘oe a me ke akua ho’omaika‘i ‘oe, ʻŌmea! (May blessing always be with you and may God bless you, Beloved!) Today is a day for remembering things – or so it seems to me. I am remembering my brother, Ken, whose birthday was yesterday; he’s 66, and that means I’m going to be 70 soon. That reminds me of my cousin-sister, Annie, whose birthday was in April and she’s already 70; she doesn’t like being older than me because I look way older than her. Ah, 70 we are now! When was it they changed the speed limit on the Valley Highway to 70? That’s I-25, and 70 seemed ridiculously fast, but people still figured they could go 77 because the Highway Patrol wouldn’t ticket them for speeding unless they were going 78. Those were great records! I loved to listen to them in my bedroom on Ivy Way; that’s always the place I think of as our home as kids. I had records by Spike Jones, New York Philharmonic recordings on the Columbia labels on 12 inch wide disks (they were my first conducting lessons), and lots of Big Band music – which I still adore. I can remember visiting the Trocadero Ballroom at Elitch’s Gardens with my parents and seeing some band playing there. Regrettably I don’t remember which band it was. I must have been about 5 then, because I think Ken was in a stroller at the time. Remember the Stroll? That was about 1958 I think. I was 12 then – maybe – or 11; yeah, 11. I think I saw kids dancing that on our old black-and-white Motorola TV. 1958 was
“Bali Hai” Mt Makana on Kaua`i
also when South Pacific came out. Ironically, it was filmed on Kauaʻi’s North Shore near Hanalei Bay. Even Ape Mountain – a prominent feature of the Anahola Mountains we often show on Facebook – was part of that movie – toward the end where Emile De Becque is strafed in the mountains. Now, how did we cover all that ground? It seems these days it’s easy for my mind to wander. My body, not so much; my wandering days are over, but my mind has always been “somewhere out there.”
Wandering is something with which we are all familiar. We have eyes that wander, minds that wander, feet that wander, winds that wander, and snakes that wander – no, wait; those are winders like sidewinders. We often wonder while we wander. Do you remember that? Julie Andrews did my favorite version of that. In the early sixties, there was a young woman who went to our church in SE Denver. She had an amazing voice like Julie Andrews, and when she sang I Wonder as I Wander, (↔ Music Link) it was breath-taking. But again I wander. Wandering was something the Peoples of The Exodus ended up doing – mostly because of their hard-hearted (and hard-headed) resistance to God’s leasing. You probably remember reading it in Numbers 32:13 – 13 And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord had disappeared. When we talk about wandering, we often remember that is usually appears to be aimless, without a goal or purpose, and is often associated with people who are senile or even simple-minded. But sometimes, we wander because of sheer obstinacy. That seemed to a an enduring problem for the Israelites.
Even after God had led the out of the desert and into Canaan, they kept forgetting why there was a reason for them to be in possession of that land. Their purpose was to give testimony to the Wisdom and Mercy of God. The People were more interested in pursuing their own interests than in following the mandate they received from God. Like a weary father, he chided his children saying, 10 Thus says the Lord concerning this people:
Truly they have loved to wander,
they have not restrained their feet; (Jeremiah 14:10a). We tend to wander like that, too; we go after things we think will “fulfill us,” or help us “find ourselves.”
Well, if all that wandering only leads one to oneself, it hardly seems worth the trip. All we can say about it is, “I was right here when I left to go look for me and I was still here when I got back.” Granted, modern logic says it’s not the destination, it’s the journey, but wandering around in circles usually ends badly. You die, lost and alone, and would have done better to just sit tight and wait. Being still in the presence of God (and really, where can you go that he isn’t already there?) seems to be just out of our reach many times. In Psalm 46:10 he says –10 “Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.” When we wander, we often pretend it’s just a way to idle away from responsibility or waste some time; but, if we’re honest about it, we’re out and about looking for a little zing – something “fun” to titillate our imagination. That was the case with Samson who deliberately “wandered” across the border of where he was supposed to stay so that he could test the temptations of forbidden women. Delilah obliged him, and he ended up wandering around in circles until he finally came to his senses and brought the house of Dagon down. There are happier ways to wander.
In fact, I think this whole train of thought took off from the Home Station earlier this week when I remembered as song I used to sing while paying my 12-string (another pleasure long ago laid aside). It is called The Happy Wanderer. I thought about singing that song with the kids at St. Catherine School. I’m hoping to be able to teach them a song called Happy Am I, and this other song would be fun to sing with them too. Here’s how it goes (you might even remember it!):
The Happy Wanderer
1: I love to go a-wandering along the mountain track,
and as I go, I love to sing, my knapsack on my back.
Chorus:
Val-deri, val-dera, val-dera, val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha,
val-deri, val-dera, my knapsack on my back. (use last line from verse
as last line for Chorus)
2: I wave my hat to all I meet, and they wave back to me,
and blackbirds call so loud and sweet from ev’ry green wood tree.
Chorus
3: High overhead the skylarks wing, they never rest at home,
but just like me, they love to sing as o’er the world we roam.
Chorus
4: I love to wander by the stream, that dances in the sun.
So joyously, it calls to me, come join my happy song!
Chorus
5. Oh, may I go a-wandering until the day I die !
Oh, may I always laugh and sing beneath God’s clear blue sky !
Chorus
When I performed that publicly, I called out “One more Chorus,” and then – when I got to the ” val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha,” I’d break into giggling, then laughing, then every form of ha-ha and guffaw I had ever learned. The result was predictable; everyone else started alughing too. Then I would stop suddenly and shout out, “Ehhhhhh, what’re you laughin’ about?!?!” That was a fun kind of wandering! I hope I get to sing that with the kids! It is my desire to have that kind of fun with them
We need to continue to be careful about our desires, though. There’s this little reminder in Ecclesiastes 6:9 – 9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire; this also is vanity and a chasing after wind. Ah, yes, Bob Dylan and Peter Paul and Mary often reminded us that “The Answer is Blowin’ in the Wind.” (↔ Music Link) Our wandering hearts, minds, eyes, hands, feet, and intentions frequently lead us to disappointment, disillusionment, and sometimes even death. The Times they are a-Changin‘, (↔ Music Link) still the changes are not patterned on God’s long-standing requirements, but rather on our perceptions of what those commandments might mean when interpreted by our own misguided Worldly wanderings. What is it that blows in the wind?
Hopefully, for us who call upon the Lord, who wander the Earth seeking those who need his help, it is the Spirit. Jesus told us in John 3:8 – “6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ 8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” If we wonder as we wander, let us wonder at the Wonder of God and rejoice that our every breath is granted by his Grace. No matter what happens, if we are Blowing in the Wind that is the Holy Spirit, we are going rightly. We ride the wind so that we can see HIM – not ourselves – with our whole hearts so that we will not stray from his commandments. I find that I am quite happy about wandering like that – going whither the Wind blows, the Wind that created the heavens and the Earth. Surely I will someday soon wander into that home somewhere beyond the blue from which Angels beckon me through heaven’s open doors, ’cause I can’t feel at home (↔ Music Link) in this World any more. Won’t you mosey along with me? I’d love to have the company! We won’t be wandering off. We’ll be wandering onward to the Promised Rest.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Belovéd!
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
