We are blessed, here at Hope, to have two parishioners both
on the path to becoming deacons. Both Mike
and Danny will be leaving us shortly for their field training in the
diaconate. Like just about everyone called
to the ministry, both Mike and Danny have quite the story to tell about how
they came to recognize that call, and we were blessed this past Sunday when
Mike shared a bit of his story at each of the services.
Mike had been feeling a calling to ministry for some years. He had prayed about it. He threw himself whole-heartedly into church
life as he tried to decipher God’s plan for him. And like most of us trying to decipher God’s
plan, he hit some frustrating dead-ends.
But then one day, he was in a Christian bookstore doing some shopping when three
young homeless men came into the store.
Mike continued to shop, moving off to a different section of
the store. The three men struck up a conversation
with the woman who owned the store.
A moment later, the woman called out to Mike, “Deacon,” she said. “Deacon, could you come here?”
Mike walked over to her and explained to her that he wasn’t
a deacon.
It didn’t matter to her.
She wanted him to pray with the young men.
After the service this past Sunday, I told Mike how much I
loved his story.
We pray all the time for God to answer our prayers. But we want more than that. We want God to answer our prayers in a way
that is clear and easy to understand.
We want God to just speak plainly.
Some years ago, I was sitting in my classroom during my
planning period, and I was planning, not for the next class, but for my future. I had already been on disability for health
issues and the health problems had not gone away, but in fact had gotten
worse. I sat at my desk that day in
prayer, begging God to tell me what to do next.
I knew if I left to go back on disability that I would most likely never
return to teaching.
I didn’t know what to do.
So, I prayed, and after a while of receiving no “voice from
above” response from God, I looked up at the clock on the wall to see how much
time I had left until the bell rung.
And that was when I noticed it.
The clock on the wall had stopped.
God’s message was clear that day.
Time’s up.
That was my last day of teaching.
I bet if you look back on your own life right now, you, too,
can find examples when God has spoken plainly to you. And you can probably find examples where God
spoke plainly to you at the time, but you only recognized it in hindsight.
In today Gospel reading, in John 16:25-33, Jesus tells the
disciples that he will speak plainly to them.
You can almost hear their collective exhale in verse 29,
when they say, “Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech!”
But the truth is, we, as the human race, have a long history
of not listening to God even when He does speak plainly to us.
God tells Adam and Eve, “You may eat from every tree in the
garden, except that one right there—every tree but that one—you touch that one,
you die.” That’s my translation but God’s
command is pretty clear. And yet all the
serpent has to do is ask one simple question of Eve, “Did God really say …” and
the seed of doubt begins to grow.
God tells Jonah to go to Ninevah and what does Jonah
do? He boards the first ship he can find
and heads in the opposite direction. No
way am I going to Ninevah, he tells himself.
That place is scary crazy.
God tells Barak in Judges 4, through the prophetess, Deborah,
to lead his army against Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army. What does Barak do? He tells Deborah he will only go if she goes
with him, testing her resolve and ultimately showing his own lack of faith.
And of course, every time we fail to listen to God’s directions,
there are consequences. Adam and Eve are
tossed out of Eden. Jonah winds up
swallowed by a giant fish. And while
Barak’s army is victorious, Barak is denied the chance to bring Sisera down himself. Instead the honor goes to a woman, Jael, who
famously ends Sisera’s life with a tent peg to the head.
Throughout the Bible, God speaks to us in many different
ways. He speaks through burning bushes. He speaks to us from mountaintops. He speaks to us through prophets. He speaks to us in silence. He speaks to us in prayer.
He spoke to us as Jesus.
He speaks to us now through the Holy Spirit.
“[I] will tell you plainly of the Father,” Jesus says in
verse 25, so that, he continues in verse 33, “ …. in me you may have peace.”
In him, we may have peace.
Here is the truth that I need you to hear today. God speaks to us. We pray to Him for answers. We pray to Him for healing. We pray to Him for direction.
And He always answers us.
He is always speaking. God never
gives us the silent treatment. Our God
is not a passive-aggressive god.
But we may not always be the best at listening.
So, take peace in this knowledge. God is speaking. He is speaking plainly. Just listen.
Amen.
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