Glen Avon Presbyterian Church

“On Eagles’ Wings”

Rev. Lon Weaver

Some friends invited us up to their cabin on Lake Vermilion recently. Robyn is a born lake person. I am definitely a city person who savors lake-life in small doses. This was a time when I clearly needed a significant dose. First, there was good conversation with kind and gentle folks. Then, there was opportunity for deep sleep. Overnight, I slept more than nine hours. During the day to follow, I had an afternoon nap lasting more than an hour. I never seem to take the time for good rest. It was simply marvelous.

But then there were the eagles to cap it all off. The last time we had visited the cabin, an old dead tree—one of the tallest on that part of the lake—offered a perfect spot for eagles to roost. On that occasion, we watched a pair of adults landing and taking off at least a dozen times. As many of you know, their wings seem huge compared to the song birds and hummingbirds which surround us. Each time they departed struck you as an event. But between our visits to the cabin, this old tree had crumbled to the ground, taking the roosting spot with it. The visits of the eagles seemed to be a thing of the past. Not so!

Soon after we’d arrived this time, Robyn caught the sound of their distinctive, high-pitched—even screeching—calls. This time, an adult and a youth had chosen two trees on the island—one a bit distant, the other right next to the old tree. Once again, we were treated to their visits and their grace and their majesty.

For our faith tradition, eagles function as the symbol for that incomparable capacity for transcendence which each of us has. Isaiah 40 uses that image among others to express that fact so poetically for us:

“…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.” (40:31)

I hope you have had a moment or two of that renewing transcendence this summer. Now we turn to the fall and an exciting new set of opportunities to experience the Spirit through study and fellowship and worship. As we do so, may we all gain new life from the One who bears us up like the wings of an eagle, curing our weariness and strengthening our faint hearts. Amen.

Click here for more info: