Once, there was a wise man and his student walking down a busy New York street. And just as they were coming around the corner, parked on the side of the road was a shiny red convertible. In this red convertible was a couple, who had just been married. They were standing in their seats dancing to music! The Wise man said to his student, ‘Now that is what we need!’ And the student said, ‘oh yes, I have always wanted a red convertible!’ And the wise man said ‘no, not the convertible’ And the student said, ‘oh yes, we all need to dance a bit more.’ And the wise man said, ‘no, not the dancing’. And then student said, ‘but teacher, what do you see?’ and the wise man said, ‘What is most real and most essential is the loving-joy flowing between them.’

Every human spirit is called today to develop new eyes and new ears for what is essential. We need new eyes to see like this wise man, seeing in and through the material objects, in and through the outer appearances, seeing through to what is most important; moral forces like loving-joy that can awaken in human hearts. For whenever we see love, or peace, or gratitude, compassion, or any fruit of The Spirit active in the human heart, we see Christ working, we see His kingdom alive. And this is why our gospel this week (Matt 6) calls us not to worry about material concerns. We are to seek first this kingdom of Christ in all things, to make that our essential ground, and then everything else will fall into place.

Now, this is no mere optimism or denial of shadow and pain. We are not meant to neglect the material world or our suffering. Practicing seeing the kingdom of god in all things brings light into the darkness, enlivens our world with His.

Dear friends, this means that when all is said and done, the most powerful weapon against the adversarial forces is spiritual joy. The spiritual joy that can awaken when we feel Chirst’s presence, Christ’s kingdom come close, in and through the dark.

This contemplation by Rev. Evans was inspired by Matt 6