Listening for God
Sunday, May 13, 2007
“Where Is The Church Headed?”
#2 “Listening for God”
Acts 16:9-15
John 5:1-9
Swinging back and forth in an old porch swing with her daughter, writer Denise Roy observes that in that rather peaceful, squeaky movement back and forth, she and her daughter find a deep, lasting peace. “Here,” she writes, “we have room enough for life. We have a rhythm to our day. We have exactly enough time for what is truly important.”[1]
The ironic thing, says Denise, is that this swing is bolted to the fake front of a house in an museum exhibit titled “Step into the Past.” Denise says it doesn’t matter to her daughter that the yellow house they’re sitting in front of is just a façade, or that the porch isn’t real. What matters is that the mother sitting next to her is real.
You may remember Denise, she came to Woodlawn Chapel a few years ago and read from her first book, My Monastery is a Minivan. Caught in the web of modern life, she muses that it is hard to slow down in our personal lives and listen to what is truly important.
“I want to slow down, to sit and snuggle, to step fully into the present.”[2]
That seems to me to capture a yearning most of us have these days. We work long days. We are perpetually busy. We race home, only to step into the ongoing, chaos that awaits us there. We yearn to step fully into the present and to feel the presence of God around us. That is a yearning we can identify with whether or not we are parents, but I do think mothers especially long for the feeling of wholeness Denise Roy describes. Some years ago, I gave Carol a children’s book for Mother’s Day – it was called “Five Minute’s Peace.” The same year our neighbor gave her a t-shirt that said, “Mom’s Shirt,” and “Wipe nose on dotted line!” That fairly well captured our life then.
Where are we headed? As parents? As God’s people?
In these days leading up to Pentecost, the church spends its time listening to stories of the Spirit’s work in the world, recalling the words of Jesus from the gospel lesson today: “My Father is still working, and I also am working. (John 5:17) God is reminding us of the mission of the church in the world, and on this day the reminder is clear: settle yourselves into a porch swing, open your heart to God, and listen to what God is saying.
Yet that is far from a cut and dry process. Where do we go to open ourselves to God? Just how does that happen? Notice something. In these stories from Acts, is that God seems to be everywhere, appearing to people by way of ecstatic visions and wild dreams. One scholar observed that the word for vision is used twelve times in the entire New Testament; once in Matthew, and eleven times in the Book of Acts. The unfolding drama of the Gospel reveals its power…as women and men, mothers and fathers, children and servants open themselves to the transforming power of the presence of God.
The Spirit is touching lives, causing them to stop where they are to see God in their midst.
And that is a practice we ought to cultivate. If congregations are to remain vital, strong, centers of mission and faith, we need to lead people in the rather socially unacceptable practice of stopping. Yes, stopping – we need to regain a sense of the Sabbath. We need to learn new ways of discovering God’s presence in our lives—new ways of praying. Congregational consultant Herb Miller writes of a nightclub that opened directly across the street from the only church in a small town. Infuriated that someone would be bold enough to do this, the church organized an all-night prayer meeting. The church prayed that God burn the nightclub to the ground. Well, within a few minutes a thunder storm rolled over the town. Lightening struck the building and burned the club to the ground. The club owner filed a lawsuit against the church, which of course denied any responsibility.
As the judge heard the case, he closed the filed and turned to both parties and said, “It seems that wherever the guilt may lie, the tavern keeper is the one who really believes in prayer, while the church doesn’t!”[3]
If we wonder which direction the church is headed, perhaps we should follow Lydia’s lead and wander down to the river.
Luke doesn’t tell us if Lydia was a mother or not, but we do know she was a busy person, a businesswoman of some means, a woman with a mind for enterprise. She was a dealer in purple cloth, a woman well versed in the push and pull of the marketplace. She was successful, probably wealthy. Her life was filled with the noise of commerce, and yet today’s scripture tells us that this Gentile woman was fulfilling the Jewish Sabbath. She is converted by Paul’s preaching, and in many ways becomes a mother in the church.
And it all starts when she finds a quiet place by the river to pray.
The amazing thing is that Paul almost didn’t make it to that women’s prayer group. He had plans to go in a different direction, but we’re told that the Spirit of Jesus prevented him from taking the gospel into Asia, and instead directed him toward Greece. He is compelled to go in a different direction by a vision. That is significant. It comes to home suddenly, awakening him to new life. So instead of heading off into Asia, Paul lands in Philippi, and wanders outside of the city limits to a small place where some women had gathered to pray. It isn’t a remarkable building, it isn’t even an officially-sanctioned synagogue. It is, instead, a small gathering of women eagerly yearning for God.
At the river, these two visions coincide. The providence of God has lead Paul to preach to these women, and the Spirit of God moves in the life of a wealthy Gentile woman named Lydia. She who hungers for God, and Paul provides the meal. Look at the confluence of these two visions: the apostle is led by God, and the receptive heart that is also open to God’s leading.
Both are led to this out of the way place for no apparent reason. But then, as one has said, “God may not act exactly when we want God to act, but God is always on time.” Lydia hears the Gospel. She responds by opening her household, her resources, her very heart to the work of God. Both Lydia and Paul open their lives to God, and the results are amazing.
A few year’s ago on Mother’s Day, we wandered off the beaten path and spent an afternoon playing down at Castlewood State Park. We took off our shoes and splashed in the running water. Sinking my feet into river ooze doesn’t come naturally to me. I much prefer chlorinated blue water to muddy, green-brown river water. But I followed the vision. We splashed. We laughed. We collected pails of rocks and let little fish swim between our toes. But most of all, we opened ourselves to a spectacular vision of what our then-young family could become, in God’s grace.
Soon our lives will take a new turn. But the good news is this: when we trust in the vision that the Spirit of God provides, like it did to Paul, like it did to Lydia, it will open our hearts. It will change us forever. Amen.
[1] Denise Roy, Momfulness, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007), p. 51.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Herb Miller, Connecting With God, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1994), p. 68.
“Where Is The Church Headed?”
#2 “Listening for God”
Acts 16:9-15
John 5:1-9
Swinging back and forth in an old porch swing with her daughter, writer Denise Roy observes that in that rather peaceful, squeaky movement back and forth, she and her daughter find a deep, lasting peace. “Here,” she writes, “we have room enough for life. We have a rhythm to our day. We have exactly enough time for what is truly important.”[1]
The ironic thing, says Denise, is that this swing is bolted to the fake front of a house in an museum exhibit titled “Step into the Past.” Denise says it doesn’t matter to her daughter that the yellow house they’re sitting in front of is just a façade, or that the porch isn’t real. What matters is that the mother sitting next to her is real.
You may remember Denise, she came to Woodlawn Chapel a few years ago and read from her first book, My Monastery is a Minivan. Caught in the web of modern life, she muses that it is hard to slow down in our personal lives and listen to what is truly important.
“I want to slow down, to sit and snuggle, to step fully into the present.”[2]
That seems to me to capture a yearning most of us have these days. We work long days. We are perpetually busy. We race home, only to step into the ongoing, chaos that awaits us there. We yearn to step fully into the present and to feel the presence of God around us. That is a yearning we can identify with whether or not we are parents, but I do think mothers especially long for the feeling of wholeness Denise Roy describes. Some years ago, I gave Carol a children’s book for Mother’s Day – it was called “Five Minute’s Peace.” The same year our neighbor gave her a t-shirt that said, “Mom’s Shirt,” and “Wipe nose on dotted line!” That fairly well captured our life then.
Where are we headed? As parents? As God’s people?
In these days leading up to Pentecost, the church spends its time listening to stories of the Spirit’s work in the world, recalling the words of Jesus from the gospel lesson today: “My Father is still working, and I also am working. (John 5:17) God is reminding us of the mission of the church in the world, and on this day the reminder is clear: settle yourselves into a porch swing, open your heart to God, and listen to what God is saying.
Yet that is far from a cut and dry process. Where do we go to open ourselves to God? Just how does that happen? Notice something. In these stories from Acts, is that God seems to be everywhere, appearing to people by way of ecstatic visions and wild dreams. One scholar observed that the word for vision is used twelve times in the entire New Testament; once in Matthew, and eleven times in the Book of Acts. The unfolding drama of the Gospel reveals its power…as women and men, mothers and fathers, children and servants open themselves to the transforming power of the presence of God.
The Spirit is touching lives, causing them to stop where they are to see God in their midst.
And that is a practice we ought to cultivate. If congregations are to remain vital, strong, centers of mission and faith, we need to lead people in the rather socially unacceptable practice of stopping. Yes, stopping – we need to regain a sense of the Sabbath. We need to learn new ways of discovering God’s presence in our lives—new ways of praying. Congregational consultant Herb Miller writes of a nightclub that opened directly across the street from the only church in a small town. Infuriated that someone would be bold enough to do this, the church organized an all-night prayer meeting. The church prayed that God burn the nightclub to the ground. Well, within a few minutes a thunder storm rolled over the town. Lightening struck the building and burned the club to the ground. The club owner filed a lawsuit against the church, which of course denied any responsibility.
As the judge heard the case, he closed the filed and turned to both parties and said, “It seems that wherever the guilt may lie, the tavern keeper is the one who really believes in prayer, while the church doesn’t!”[3]
If we wonder which direction the church is headed, perhaps we should follow Lydia’s lead and wander down to the river.
Luke doesn’t tell us if Lydia was a mother or not, but we do know she was a busy person, a businesswoman of some means, a woman with a mind for enterprise. She was a dealer in purple cloth, a woman well versed in the push and pull of the marketplace. She was successful, probably wealthy. Her life was filled with the noise of commerce, and yet today’s scripture tells us that this Gentile woman was fulfilling the Jewish Sabbath. She is converted by Paul’s preaching, and in many ways becomes a mother in the church.
And it all starts when she finds a quiet place by the river to pray.
The amazing thing is that Paul almost didn’t make it to that women’s prayer group. He had plans to go in a different direction, but we’re told that the Spirit of Jesus prevented him from taking the gospel into Asia, and instead directed him toward Greece. He is compelled to go in a different direction by a vision. That is significant. It comes to home suddenly, awakening him to new life. So instead of heading off into Asia, Paul lands in Philippi, and wanders outside of the city limits to a small place where some women had gathered to pray. It isn’t a remarkable building, it isn’t even an officially-sanctioned synagogue. It is, instead, a small gathering of women eagerly yearning for God.
At the river, these two visions coincide. The providence of God has lead Paul to preach to these women, and the Spirit of God moves in the life of a wealthy Gentile woman named Lydia. She who hungers for God, and Paul provides the meal. Look at the confluence of these two visions: the apostle is led by God, and the receptive heart that is also open to God’s leading.
Both are led to this out of the way place for no apparent reason. But then, as one has said, “God may not act exactly when we want God to act, but God is always on time.” Lydia hears the Gospel. She responds by opening her household, her resources, her very heart to the work of God. Both Lydia and Paul open their lives to God, and the results are amazing.
A few year’s ago on Mother’s Day, we wandered off the beaten path and spent an afternoon playing down at Castlewood State Park. We took off our shoes and splashed in the running water. Sinking my feet into river ooze doesn’t come naturally to me. I much prefer chlorinated blue water to muddy, green-brown river water. But I followed the vision. We splashed. We laughed. We collected pails of rocks and let little fish swim between our toes. But most of all, we opened ourselves to a spectacular vision of what our then-young family could become, in God’s grace.
Soon our lives will take a new turn. But the good news is this: when we trust in the vision that the Spirit of God provides, like it did to Paul, like it did to Lydia, it will open our hearts. It will change us forever. Amen.
[1] Denise Roy, Momfulness, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007), p. 51.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Herb Miller, Connecting With God, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1994), p. 68.
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