Suddenly Here

 As Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent, "He looked up and saw three men standing near him."  (Genesis 18:1-2)  Mysterious men.  Later in the story which unfolds, they are described as angels.  Not there and then there were these men.  At a critical moment Gabriel came to Daniel.  From the invisible realm came this one to give aid to a man who had been pleading with God in prayer.  A mysterious appearance.  And then, there are other mysterious appearances from the realm of the invisible as was experienced by Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, Jesus, Peter, James, and John, and the Apostle Paul.    

Of course, the most mysterious appearance of one coming from the invisible realm into the visible took place in Bethlehem.  The Apostle Paul wrote of this man of Bethlehem with words such as, "...who though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself...being born in human likeness."  (Philippians 2:6-7).  The One who had always been unseen became the One seen by those who shared that span of time on earth with Him.  Always it seems that the veil between here and there has been a thin veil and those who are there at times have made their presence known here in mysterious ways.    

Could it be we truly do live in such a world?  Are we really so separated in this visible world from the invisible world which speaks of eternity that there are no transcendent moments of holy presence and awareness?  Could it be that the reasons we are so quick to respond in a way that speaks of absolute separation has more more to do with our being too busy to see, to occupied to hear, and so scattered we cannot pay attention to what is really happening around us?  Is every common bush really afire with God, or do we simply repeat lines of meaningless poetry?