January 15, 2006

Listen Up

by Julianne Stokstad

LISTEN UP! is a phrase I learned from my students. It was a cue that meant pay attention because something important is about to be said. It was like raising a red flag. The classroom would get quiet, all ears focused and pens poised to take down what I was about to say. For that moment, what I said was heard. Communication is a two way process involving both speaking and listening, both giving and receiving. Both as a teacher and as a minister I am greatly aware of the incredible complexity of good communication.

We are bombarded by so many voices calling to get our attention. Both inner and outer voices yank our attention and interest hither and thither. Our complex brains automatically filter out much of the information coming our way. Our biggest communication challenge these days is to know when to tune in, when to tune out and when to change the channel and to be aware of what we are doing.

Preparing this sermon, I began to wonder if God has a communication problem too. There are so many religious people speaking in God's name these days, doing things that seem not of the God I know and love. There are the suicide bombers bombing in God's name, clerics preaching violence and hatred in God's name, fundamentalists preaching intolerance, blame and exclusivity in God's name. Perhaps we need a special God filter to get all the noise out of the way and to hear clearly.

Our scripture today gives us a lesson in recognizing and responding to God's call.

The boy Samuel heard a voice calling his name, "Samuel, Samuel" and he ran to his mentor to see what he wanted. Three times he went and was told to go back to bed. He heard and responded to the voice but did not recognize it as God's. Finally his old priest mentor, Eli, figured it out and told Samuel how to respond. And the next time the voice called, Samuel answered these incredibly powerful words, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and he became one of the greatest Hebrew prophets.

There are so many voices calling to us, how do we recognize and figure out it is truly the voice of God calling us? Like Samuel, we need mentors who will help us recognize when God wants us to sit in the silence and listen. We need friends who encourage us to discover God's activity for ourselves saying Come and See. We need leaders who encourage the telling of God's truth no matter how painful or life-changing that word may be. We need church.

We know we are each unique. We each learn differently, see things differently and so I believe God calls to each of us in a unique way that is perfect for us. When we hear what we believe is God's call to us, it is truly a leap of faith to respond. We must trust that our God calls us by name and invites us into a new and closer relationship. A closer relationship with God always leads to peace and good for all people and our earth.

Last week I spoke about Jesus hearing God's voice blessing him as he rose from his baptism. Many people have heard God's voice. As we like to say here God is Still Speaking.

This Sunday we celebrate and honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He heard God's voice. We see in his powerful example that to recognize God's word for ourselves and for our time may involve more than just our willingness to listen to God. It demands following wherever God leads us. Martin Luther King Jr. heard God's call and it pushed him into the center of the struggle for equality for all people. The call of God to him asked for faith and a vision for our nation to become free of racism, free of prejudice, free of its need to oppress some at the expense of others. He had an on-going conversation with God that led him into understanding non-violence as the only route to justice. But this was not easy for him.

No doubt you have heard the story of Dr. King's midnight conversation with God. He told with great honestly and humility the story of his conversation with God. He says:

"Almost immediately after the protest was undertaken, we began to receive threatening phone calls and letters in our home. Sporadic in the beginning, they increased day after day. At first I took them in my stride, feeling that they were the work of a few hotheads who would become discouraged after they discovered that we would not fight back. But as the weeks passed, I realized that many of the threats were in earnest. I felt myself faltering and growing in fear.

"After a particularly strenuous day, I had settled in bed at a late hour. My wife had already fallen asleep and I was about to doze off when the phone rang. An angry voice said, 'Listen nigger, we've taken all we want from you. Before next week you'll be sorry you ever came to Montgomery.' I hung up, but I could not sleep. It seemed that all of my fears had come down on me at once. I had reached the saturation point.

"I got out of the bed and began to walk the floor. I went to the kitchen and heated a pot of coffee. I was ready to give up. I tried to think of a way to move out of the picture without appearing to be a coward. In this state of exhaustion, with my courage almost gone, I determined to take the problem to God. My head in my hands, I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed out-loud. The words I spoke to God that night are still vivid in my memory. 'I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now, I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength or courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I've come to the point where I can't face them alone.'

"At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never before experienced Him. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying, 'Martin, stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth, God will be at your side forever.'

"Almost at once my fears began to pass from me. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything. The outer situation remained the same, but God had given me an inner calm.

"Three nights later our home was bombed. Strangely enough, I accepted the word of the bombing calmly. My experience with God had given me a new strength and trust. I knew now that God is able to give us the interior resources to face the storms and problems of life."
The Autobiography Dr. Martin Luther King, pp. 77,78

Martin Luther King dared to trust in God's voice and his response changed the world.

How might we do the same? It is important to recognize that the Word of God came to a young vulnerable African-American Baptist preacher and to Samuel, a youth. Over and over in the Bible God speaks to those the world doesn't pay much attention to, the young, the weak and the vulnerable. It is in the midnight hours of vulnerability, of our pain and fears where we hear God's voice. As long as we are in control, powerful, we don't seem to be able to listen very well. When we have everything under control, we are not open to God.

God is calling all of us, all the time. New Testament scholar Luke Johnson says when we truly hear God or look into the face of Jesus, we change. In fact, we can't do otherwise. He says, "if after hearing a sermon, I tell the pastor that was a powerful sermon and then go back and nothing happens, it was just an esthetic experience. If I leave the church, sell all I have and give it to the poor and devote my life to service, then that was a religious experience." True hearing must be very rare because so few of us change our ways.

God's voice is in this place. The Spirit of God blows in here and shakes the rafters. I have seen it in healing, in love and caring. I have seen it in the spirit of generosity, community service and in the renewed strength and commitment of those willing to step into leadership positions. The Spirit of God is rattling the walls of our lives. Can we hear?