Really Listening

2 Samuel 7:1-14a, Ephesians 2:11-22

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, July 23, 2006

Heritage Congregational Church, Madison, WI

About nine years ago, after I had been working at First Congregational Church in Beloit as Youth Director, I began having dreams. In these dreams I was standing in a pulpit preaching. I was doing weddings and funerals, I was teaching about the Bible and discussing God with adults. I wondered if I was hearing what I thought I was hearing. It just couldn’t be. Me, a pastor? This was not on my radar at all. I was skeptical, and I tried to ignore my dreams.

But, the dreams kept coming. They would not be ignored. Still, I was uneasy and I kept it to myself. The dreams kept coming. They were stronger and stronger. And, after a month or so I couldn’t keep it to myself any more. It was all-consuming. I could think of nothing else. My conscious and subconscious were consumed. My heart, head and spirit were controlled by these dreams. And so I shared. I talked to my pastor. But I had a question for him. Was this feeling of call from me or from God? Was I hearing God’s voice or my own? I began the process of discernment to answer my questions. I continued to talk with my Pastor and he helped to ask God-focused questions.

In 2 Samuel we find King David. He loves God, and is in a position of power, both political and spiritual. Everything in place for God’s will to be done. The people and the leadership are in right relationship with God and with each other. David has brought the Ark to the holy city of Jerusalem, so the people may be focused on God. The people are looking to David to continue this right relationship, this life focus, on God.

David wants to build a house for God, a temple, a special place for worship. After all, he himself has a house made of cedar, but there is no special place for God to dwell. David believes he will be doing God’s will by building this temple, that what he wants to do is right and just. But God has other ideas. God says to David, build a house for yourself. David already has a house. What is God talking about?

The word house can be used in many ways. It can mean a house for a family, a dwelling fit for a king, a temple for worship, or a household—a people. God says to David that he will be known by the building up of the people, by strengthening their identity as God’s own. The house David is building is seen by the way the people of Israel live their lives, not by a building that is in their midst. That will come later. First things first.

David learns to listen to God, though Nathan, the prophetic voice sent to David by God. This is our first introduction to Nathan, and he will serve well and be a valuable asset to all of David’s reign.

The church in Ephesians thinks they know God’s will, what God wants. They believe that the Gentiles should become fully Jewish and then Christian. Jesus was a Jew, the chosen people were Jewish. Those without Jewish heritage and practice should come to God by the same path. Surely that must be what God wants. It is only right. The church feels so strongly, it must be what God wants. God, through Paul, has other ideas. In Christ, there is a new humanity. All people will be unified in Christ, not by their past practices, not by their faith history. Together Jews and Gentiles will become one. In Christ the whole is joined together into a holy temple, a living organism where God can dwell—a household—a people like those in David’s time, focused completely on God.

So how do we know? How do we know if what we feel so strongly in our hearts and heads of faith is true to God’s will? How do we engage in discernment that will lead us to hear God’s voice, to truly listen? Both David and the Ephesians managed to come around to God’s way of thinking, but not without struggle, not without difficulty. It is a challenge to listen more than we talk. It is a challenge to listen more than we think. David and the church in Ephesus help us to find some direction in the task of listening to God. From their situations we can glean some suggestions, some ideas to try.

First, I see both David and the church in Ephesus being open. They are open to what God might say. They are open to the possibility that they were not completely right. Both David and the Ephesians were on the right track, they wanted to point toward God, they wanted to bring glory to God with their lives. But they stopped listening too soon. They came to a conclusion too quickly. They let earthly ideas of greatness, honor and faithfulness, coupled with a bit of God’s voice, lead them to a premature decision.

Secondly, they listened to prophetic voices, to Nathan and Paul. They let go of the authority they found in their own faith and trusted that God could and would speak through others. God’s anointed king and the newly formed church in Ephesus honored the voice of Truth when it appeared, they recognized God’s voice in the voice of the prophets.

Lastly, they stayed completely focused on God, they asked God focused questions . The Ephesians and David believed (really believed) the prophets when told they were off-track. They then kept their ideas that were in harmony with what the prophet said and chucked the rest. Then and only then were they able to move on. They humbly obeyed what God said to do, striving only to be faithful, to be right in God’s sense and not to be right in the earthly sense.

Churches need to listen to God’s voice, as do communities, as do individuals. David listened to God’s voice, as did the church in Ephesus. We are no different.

This last his winter and spring we entered into a process of discernment, wanting to heard God’s voice and recognize what God was saying to Heritage church. We prayed and brainstormed. We prayed and discussed. We prayed and shared. We prayed and asked God focused questions. We prayed and listened. And we heard God’s voice. By listening to the voice of Truth and by being open, by praying, we heard what God was saying to Heritage. We heard a clear message from God, found in two words—reach out.

Just because we have heard God’s voice, our job is not over, there is more discernment ahead. There is more to be decided. Some of the questions entering into my mind at this time about what God has spoken to us are: How do we reach out? Where do we begin and what direction do we head? What should be our primary mission? I’m sure you have questions of your own, and I hope you’ll share them with me and with each other. We have more listening, more prayer, more sharing ahead. We have yet to ask more God focused questions.

I’d like to return to my call story for a moment, because I left out one part, the affirmation. Once I accepted my call, I went full steam ahead, talking to seminaries and visiting, applying for CFTS, reading as much as possible to get ready. I didn’t expect God would keep talking to me, affirming my call. The first person I spoke with about my dreams was my good friend June Taylor. We were rehearsing some music and I told her. She said to me that she had been having the same dreams about me. This was my first affirmation. When I spoke with my pastor, Dick Hotchkin, he only laughed and said, “Oh Cindy, we’ve all known this for a long time. You are the last to know!” When I gave my first sermon in the pulpit in the Beloit church, I felt such comfort in preaching, it was like I belonged there. I felt perfectly at home in seminary. And I sold my house by myself within just a few weeks. These were all affirmations to me, confirmations of my call.

I’m not saying it was all easy, because it wasn’t. I struggled to hear God’s voice when deciding which seminary to attend. It was not easy during that process to stay centered on God and what God was saying, where God was leading. There were disappointments, the seminary I was most interested in on paper was a huge disappointment when I visited. There was great sadness in saying goodbye to the youth in Beloit, most of which I had known since they were in first or second grade. And there were challenges, the church in Beloit burned down five days before I left for seminary. Yet, God’s voice only grew stronger and stronger, blessings abounded.

It is the same with our church. God has affirmed the work of discernment we have done thus far. God’s voice only grows stronger in our midst. Look around at what is happening at Heritage. God’s works continue to multiply and be made visible. We had an amazing week of Vacation Bible School. We have new members on committees and boards who are happy and willing and involved. The work of the stewardship committee is amazing thus far. We have new members who are dedicated to the church. And new babies are being born and baptized, adding to our faith family. The work of our boards is guided more and more by prayer and the sharing of our faith. At our church meetings we talk more about what God wants than what we want. These are the blessings that come to us in abundance. These blessings will keep coming if we continue to listen to God’s voice more than our own, they are our affirmation.

When we are in tune with God, when we really listen to God, things happen. All is right with us and God. God’s work can be done. There will be difficulties, sorrow and challenges. That is a part of the process. But if we engage in faithful discernment, seeking God’s Truth—God’s idea of what is right—if we listen for God’s voice, we will become true partners with God, fulfilling what we pray each week, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Amen.