Sermon:  Listening for God's Word

Date: January 14, 2007

Linda Swolgaard , EagleHarbor Congregational Church

Affirmation #2: Christian love of God includes Listening for God’s Word which comes through daily prayer and meditation, studying the ancient testimonies which we call Scripture, and attending to God’s present activity in the world.

Hello, my name is Linda and I am a Christian!  During this last couple of weeks I have discovered I’m also a contemplative.  Yeah, right, the kindergarten teacher contemplates?  After 40 years of some variation on teaching I deserve an ivory tower or seminary, but that’s not quite in the retirement plan.  No, I have discovered that a pattern has emerged:  I would rather play Mary than Martha, I like to keep things in my heart like Jesus’ mother did, I prefer peace and quiet.  (In reality it’s probably a 60-40 split!)

I pride myself on my ability to listen.  Unfortunately I am physically hard-of-hearing, but I seem able to sense the message and the meaning through my heart, otherwise known as my Holy Spirit.  I fully agree with today’s affirmation that God speaks to me through prayer and meditation, through wisdom gleaned from Scripture, and through the world around me.

As leader by default of the EHCC Prayer Chain I would encourage you to think about your prayer life this morning.  Jesus spelled out for the disciples a simple outline of what to say to God when one might be uneasy about conversation with such a Mighty, Awe-some and yet Loving Presence.  We recite or sing that wonderful prayer here in this sanctuary every Sunday.  But I emphasize outline: it is left to me/you to fill in the blanks, to add personal details, to flesh it out.

So, with help from a wonderful resource, Teach Me to Pray, published just 50 years ago, allow me to suggest some details.

To get started, Jesus taught us to say, “Our Father ………”  First offer that adoration.  Isn’t it absolutely incredible that He should hear me at all?!  How all-seeing, all-encompassing, all-loving, all-hearing He is!  He is just, well, GREAT!  Tell him so.  If you are shy, at least say,”Hello, my God.”

After you have addressed Him properly, be sure to say thank you for all your mercies; well, not all because there are more than you’ll ever know.  But try to count your blessings in the following categories: health, home, love, work, friends, books, fun, rest  - you get the idea.  By this time in your morning prayer you should be glowing with gratitude.

Jesus’ outline kind of insists that you re-dedicate yourself to God every time you pray.  Be assured, you are a “given” in His kingdom, He knows you belong to Him, but he likes to hear it from you.  All that you are is devoted to Him; tell Him so!

Now ask God for guidance all through the day.  (Here are some wonderful words) Forethink and foresee your day with Him.  Meet every task with Him.  Go through your day-planner and the logistics.  Even the things you cannot foresee will be better met because of this discipline.

Now it’s time for Intercession.  Pray for others.  Keep a prayer list.  Keep it up to date.  Refer to it daily.  This is not a casual recollection of people in need or of only one’s nearest and dearest.  This is a registry of the people you name in Prayers of the People, you read about in The Communicator under Keep in Your Prayers, or take requests from if you are on the Prayer Chain.

Finally, you may petition.  Some Christians feel content to leave it to God to give them what is good.  In BI culture I have my doubts!  But Jesus did teach petition: Ask! Seek! Knock!  Just try to keep this part down to a minimum.  In the larger scheme of things you and I should know better!

Amen is a nice closing.

Affirmation Part 2.

Does it seem like I left something out?  Well, save these for the end of your day.  Yes, that makes two prayer sessions each and every day.  First thing in the morning and last thing at night.  Out loud.  Mumbled.  Silently from the heart.  (shrug)  In a closet.  On your knees.  In your favorite chair.  In the shower.  (shrug)  I don’t care and I’m pretty sure God doesn’t either.

So, at bedtime address your Creator any way you please, and review the day in the recollected presence of God (see morning routine!).  You will almost certainly have a double need.

First you need to do some confession: A failure today?  Some posing?  Something not strictly truthful?  Perhaps a little exaggeration?  How about some missed opportunities for doing good?

No hurry.  Deal with each confession separately.  Itemize your sins.  Do not bundle all your beastliness or pettiness in one inclusive phrase:  “Forgive me all my sins.”

Blush over them one by one, claiming forgiveness and a greater wariness in the future.

Note to self: MAKE RESTITUTION WHERE YOU CAN.  As soon as possible tomorrow!

Okay, got that out of the way.  Now the easy part.  Say thank you for morning prayers answered and God’s help all through your day.  The positive things you sensed, the warm inward awareness that God has indeed been with you 24/7.

Then commit yourself to God again.  How about:”Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit.” Or, because last thoughts often color our dreams, say as the eighth century Christians did, “O God, make my dreams holy.”

Okay, now, we have talked to God directly, and talked and talked and talked!  It is both courteous and highly profitable now to LISTEN to God.  In a meditative mood you should be ready to receive direct counsel from the mind of God to the mind of man.  This is a time set aside when the devout soul listens to the Almighty.

Oh, to hear it immediately!  Isaiah is quoted way back when:  Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying THIS IS THE WAY, WALK YE IN IT.  There is a mass of testimony from the saints and just plain teachings from the Bible that give us answers as to where God stands over wide areas of your life:  the Ten Commandments, Jesus’ laws of love, ethical standards of the New Testament.

For most people in the Christian way of life and the majority of days, the guidance of God will run along the path of Plain and Known Duty.  Have you already made up your mind and you’re just seeking God’s approval?  Be very inwardly sure!

I’m an active member of the United States Power Squadrons, an organization that promotes safe boating through education. (So are the Johnsons and John Eisenhauer!)  I’ve taught many different aspects of safe boating but my recent endeavors have been the use of the VHF radio in an extreme emergency.  Kind of a fire drill for Mayday calls.  Now, unlike cell phones and walkie-talkies, if you want the Coast Guard or nearby boats to respond, after depressing the call button to send your message, you must release that button to hear incoming responses.  So to hear God’s guidance, Release the Button!

To receive guidance:

In the spirit of prayer, withdrawn from the world, conscious of God’s presence, your conscience is at its tenderest, your spiritual perception is sharp and penetrating.  IT IS GOD AND YOU.

Listen!  Something comes to you – clearly or not so clear.  Is it something to do?  Write a letter?  Make a call?  Offer an apology?  Make a note of it and get it done ASAP.

If you feel uncertain whether what comes to you in the quietness is of God, (1) test it by its harmony with all that you know of Jesus, and (2) discuss it in confidence with some wise and keen Christian friend.

Is there a choice of actions?  Use the Quaker test of peace: (1) Go into the quiet of God; wait in utter stillness; hold out your dilemma before Him; JUST WAIT. (2) Unhurried, see yourself traveling each road; peace will rest on one; at whatever the cost, you will find peace in your heart.

This particular affirmation today struck me as right up my alley.  But I am in the midst of organizing a large family reunion for my dad’s 90th birthday and decided not to volunteer, only to blurt out to Jennifer after church, ”I’m thinking about number 2.”  Now where did that come from?  When Dee called me it seemed a done deal, but, you know, it just felt right.  Peaceful.  A dilemma answered.  (And here I am!)

One more thing about that blessed VHF:  When you do put out a distress call in the proper vocabulary and protocol, you should wait TWO MINUTES before broadcasting again.  Two minutes while your captain is bleeding out?  Do you know how long two minutes can be?  But the reason primarily is to keep your signal open.  So, release that button.  Do not try to hurry God.  He may keep you waiting for assurance until the time comes to act.   Yes!  No!  Or even We’ll see…

Cross Walk America expands on this next part of today’s affirmation:    Christian love of God includes studying the ancient testimonies which we call Scripture, recognizing that they have been formed within distinct historical and cultural contexts, yet have been informed by God’s Spirit, which transcends all ages and times.  Most of all we seek the meaning of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as it is presented in the Scriptures and discerned in daily life. 

Psalm 19 reassures us that Scripture is dependable, to kind of umbrella all those adjectives.  Unlike Johnny Depp’s/Jack Sparrow’s compass in The Pirates of the Caribbean, our compass always points north.  Mariners are admonished to trust their compass.  We can trust our Scriptures!

Over 22 years ago Jean Owens and I took a workshop in Portland to organize a Kerygma Bible Study program here at EHCC.  She and I facilitated a class of 30 students over the course of 33 weeks.  And I’m not talking coffee and cookies.  Jean and I lived, ate, breathed each lesson – and I suspect our graduates did too, because we came out of that intense immersion with a deep understanding and awareness of the full scope of the Biblical story.  Kerygma, which is Greek for Word Proclaimed, is based on these premises (one’s I cotton to, obviously):

(1) Interpretation of Biblical materials should take place in the context of the whole canon.

(2) The best resource for Bible study is the Bible, or better, the Bible whole.

(3) An awareness of the full scope of the Biblical story provides needed balance for the building of faith.

(4) Scripture should be allowed to speak for itself.  If the Bible is understood on its own terms, it will convey its own truths.

(5) Biblical understanding should be a prelude to theological belief.  THE BIBLE SHOULD INFORM THEOLOGY, NOT THEOLOGY THE BIBLE.

The journey through the Old Testament and the New Testament TEN times using themes like God Saves His People, God Is Faithful to His People, and God’s People Have Hope transformed each of us almost immeasurably.  Sadly, I can think of only three of us still living on earth.  But putting aside this rave review of my favorite course, none of us should be so complacent as to believe we know the Scriptures well enough to not go back to the basics more often than every Sunday.  Search is a good word!  ASK!  SEEK! (KNOCK?)  Ask how this applies in the here and now.  Seek to find out what the Holy Spirit is saying to you, often,    over and over and over again.

DID YOU HEAR A WORD I SAID?

Now I know you are a busy person with many obligations in many directions, so I am not here to insist you go to Bible study every Tuesday morning or take up a self-study regime at 6:30 every evening, but I can put in a plug for a little shortcut we offer right here in EHCC.  Out on the table in the narthex is a wonderful resource called The Upper Room.  How many of us use it?  How many of us have even noticed it?  When I served on the Worship Board I was annually consulted about renewing our subscription and just how many copies to order that year.  Folks, this is free to you!  Your tax dollars at work!  In it are sound page-a-day Bible readings, a contemporary message pertaining to that verse, a prayer (starter, for me), and even a meditation suggestion.  It’s a great start.  Please help yourself.  Incidentally, I have a few good friends with whom I can discuss the lessons with practically any time; it’s comfortable, natural, uplifting, stimulating.  I still treasure the conversations I had with Mother before she became too ill.

What do we do with the Word of God, the Bible?  Paul wrote to Timothy, “So the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Affirmation Part 5. Discerning God’s activity in the world in the present.

We have delved into talking to God, listening to God, even reacquainting ourselves with His wisdom gleaned from the centuries.  But we are in the here and now.  Is there anything else to hear?  Or, to put it another way, have we heard it all?  There have been wars in almost every generation.  Man’s inhumanity to man gets more creative it seems.  People still go to bed cold, hungry, sick, tyrannized.  Is it difficult to discern God’s activity in the world in the present?

Can you hear me now?  God may well be asking the very question we chuckle at during commercial breaks we see on the news cast.  Our rough weather has brought out the best in many of us despite our lack of preparedness or organization.  We at least recognize our shortcomings but we also laud each other for the needs we could help meet.  We felt guilty because we did not reach out as much as we wanted to.  That guilt rose out of a sense that we do know how to help and that we love our neighbors as ourselves. 

Many times, though, we may be deaf to God’s presence around us.  How does God get our attention?  I am just going to blatantly read parts of this editorial by The Reverend J. Bennett Guess. (Hey, it’s on the internet for everyone to read anyway!)

I have always been skeptical when someone attributes a direct quotation to God.  It makes me nervous whenever a friend tells me, out of the blue, that God sent word that he should get his teeth cleaned, or that God told Aunt Clara to look under the sofa to find her missing pearl earring.  I get uneasy.  I am not sure why.

I am a believer.  But, for whatever reason, I do not receive this kind of audible direction from God.  I never hear choirs of angels or booming instructions on how to work miracles.

I guess it’s fair to say that the “still, small voice of God” – at least as far as I am concerned – is still very small.  And very quiet.

Please don’t misunderstand.  I place no limits on God’s ability to get my attention.  I am sure that, if need be, God will use whatever means necessary to get the point across.

But for now it seems that God delights in using the subtle approach.  I think God is still wondering if I am capable of standing in awe of all those ordinary run-of-the-mill sorts of miracles.  You know, those supernatural events that take place every day and everywhere, and so many of us pass them by without as much as a second glance.

              A tulip blooming in the window box

              A squirrel running over a tight wire while clutching onto his evening meal

              A big orange blazing sun hiding itself behind the hillside

Airplanes of steel fly over our heads, and tiny cordless telephones ring in our cars, and far-flung satellites beam 120 channels into our living rooms – and we yawn and look at one another and say, “You feel like going to the mall?”

I’d say we overlook far more of God’s communiqués than we would like to acknowledge.  To be sure, one person’s boredom is another’s epiphany.

Two friends see the same movie: one falls asleep while the other can’t purchase a wink of sleep that night.  For her, everything seems different with newly gained insights swirling around her head.  Secret promises are made, the kind we can only make to ourselves: “Tomorrow I will live my life differently.”  All because of a movie?

God is not only fire and earthquake.  God does not always resort to shaking our beds and rattling our cages in order to get our attention.

No, God is, most often, so perfectly obvious that we miss God’s presence altogether – much like the set of keys you hold in your hand as you scurry about your apartment looking for them.

God is still speaking, but the language of God is radically ordinary, so common that it is possible to let it go unheard altogether.  Malcolm Muggeridge, a self-professed “religious maniac without a religion” who became a Roman Catholic late in his life, put it this way: “Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message.”

When we listen to God, it is not only the new thing that we try to hear, but we train our ears – and hearts – to listen for the old thing that we have never stopped to hear before.

God speaks to us every day through the common and ordinary miracles of life – the relationships that give us strength and grounding, the ever flowing stream of forgiveness that washes away our past mistakes, and the extravagant welcome at Christ’s table where all are received with open arms – no matter who we are or what we have done.

God is always at work – redeeming injured lives, overcoming injustice, breaking down walls of separation, uniting the human family, and bringing forth signs of abundant life.  God is still speaking.

The next time you find yourself wishing that God would pull you aside and whisper a lullaby in your ear.  The next time you are looking for something clever, something different, something unique that lets you know for sure.  The next time you need an audible, clear signal that all is right with the world and God is in control,

Then stop and take your own pulse.  Pause and listen to whatever sounds your eardrums can detect.  Feel the solid ground beneath your feet and consider the infinite worlds and possibilities beyond.  Remember that God’s single word gave life to it all.

And because, in that moment, you have the capability and the wherewithal to say “Thanks,” you will know it is true: God is still speaking.

WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD LATELY?

(From The Upper Room this month)  Be assured: by means of silence and prayer, scripture and meditation, service and outreach, God will lead us onward by the inward motions of the same Spirit that was in Christ Jesus.  God’s guidance is not reserved for a chosen few.  It is available to all who yearn for God and seek to be a part of what God is doing in the world.

Shhh……Are you listening?