Amos 5:18-27
Many years ago when I was a kid, I remember deliveries at our home from the milk man. A guy would drive around in a truck full of glass bottles filled with milk. My Mom would leave a note on our door about how many milk bottles we wanted on our delivery day. Sometimes we need 2. Sometimes 1 and sometimes none. You put a ‘No Milk’ sign in your window if you didn’t want any. You could also leave your empty milk bottles on your steps, and the milk man would pick them up and take them to the milk distribution plant. You would also leave your money for the milk on the steps or in a little envelope and the milkman would collect it. Sometimes people would leave messages for the milkman.
A long time milk man in England collected some of the more memorable notes or messages he received over the years. Some were clear & some were interesting. Here’s 6 examples of interesting milk notes:
• Dear Milkman, I’ve just had a baby. Please leave another one.”
• Sorry not to have paid your bill before. My wife had a baby and I’ve been carrying it around in my pocket for weeks.
• Please send me a form for cheap milk. I have a baby two months old and did not know about it until a neighbor told me.
• From now on, please leave 2 pints every other day and on the days in between, except Wednesdays and Saturdays when I don’t want any milk.
• Please leave no milk today. When I say today, I mean tomorrow for I wrote this note yesterday.
• No milk today. Please don’t leave milk at number 14 either as he is dead until further notice.
Can you imagine trying to decipher all those messages? It must have been an exercise in communication clarification for that milkman. But miscommunication or blocked communication happens not only between milk people and their customers. Husbands and wives experience miscommunications. Children and parents often experience communication blockages or breakdowns. And we can experience broken or blocked communication with God. This can happen while we worship God. We come to a worship gathering like this one. We join in with others in worshipping God & singing to Him. We assume God receives and accepts our worship. So we think communication has happened.
