Listening for the voice of God (Part 1)

 When it comes to listening for the voice of God, I think I have to say that I don't have much to say.  About the only thing I think I can say with some confidence is that I'm not much of an expert on the topic...that I don't do it well.

What does God's voice sound like?  This is a question that I have asked a lot of people.  My answer has always been that it sounds like the voice in your head, it sounds like your voice.  This has to be true or else it would be a whole lot easier to know whether or not I had heard God's voice.  I would only have to evaluate the strange sounding voice to determine it's validity.  

When I am preparing a sermon I am pretty sure that some of the great insights that come along are the voice of God.  I have listened to portions of a sermon or have had people come up to tell me something that impacted them from the sermon and upon reflection, it could only be attributed to something God had said/done.  I often say to myself 'I couldn't have come up with that on my own'.  

In talking with a 'worker' recently, I asked the same question 'how do you know what God's voice sounds like...that it is Him speaking?' and she told me, "it sounds like my voice but with a twist".  

I think I like that.  When I'm listening for God's voice it is going to sound like mine, but with a twist.  With that certain 'I wouldn't have necessarily come up with that' sense to it.  I suppose I have to leave room open for the possibility that I could have come up with it, but all the same it is going to sound kinda sorta like my voice.  At least that is the starting point.

You're invited

 I came across this community ad (lightly edited).  

Join us for an evening of community, cooking, and celebration as we support...  This special event is dedicated to creating safe, affirming spaces for youth to thrive, feel empowered, and be their true selves.

I only edited a couple of words so as not to give away what group specifically was going to be celebrated and empowered.  My point isn't to promote or denigrate any particular community, but only to show that it is largely the same wording and same appeal that is made no matter what the grouping may be.  It seems that the church is using the same sort and type of messaging to appeal to people to join together in raising community and, presumably, discipleship as an outcome.  Couldn't the ad have been lightly edited to invite to some sort of 'fellowship' time and to be useful for 'discipleship' purposes?  I think the messaging is altogether similar.

Now of course a church can get their message out there any way that they like.  They can invite their own people and others to join together for  a like-minded cause of their choosing.  What struck me as I read the ad was how alike divergent communities are in their messaging, and how unlike it is to the messaging of Jesus.  By contrast there are many times where a would be disciple 'went away grieving' (Matthew 19:22), or where they 'turned back and no longer accompanied him' (John 6:66).  

Jesus never seems to run a big ad campaign or to chase after followers.  You are invited...to follow Jesus.  It may not be a special event meant to celebrate and empower, it will in fact cost us our lives.

Give me an evangelist (part 2)

 It happened again, but no evangelist was to be found.

I was having lunch at a Persian restaurant on the occasion of Nowruz, Persian new year.  Now you might think there would be a lot of Iranians going out for lunch to celebrate, especially if they are tourists here in Tbilisi, but no...our table of Americans was the only one with people at the restaurant.  At the end of our meal, however, there were a group of Iranians coming in to eat.  The Americans were all in a hurry as most to them had to catch a ride to get to a meeting.  I wasn't one of them because though I knew them, I wasn't a part of their group and therefore had no meeting to get to.  I had all the time in the world.  It was suggested to me that perhaps I could go and hand out the evangelistic material I had to the group of Iranians.  Of course I protested...I could only speak English, I didn't know these people, it was at a nice restaurant and might seem odd and imposing.  And of course I talked at least me out of giving them any material.

On the bus ride back to where I was staying, it struck me how silly my line of reasoning really was.  This life is but for a moment and the only thing that really matters is that Jesus is glorified.  I have always found it pretty easy to be in conversation with people, it is getting it started that is the hard part for me.  I fear that my fear of initiating conversation with strangers leads to disobedience on my part.  Though I am not an evangelist I am also not doing 'the work of an evangelist'.  Oh for that person who will offset my timidity.

Lord, give me an evangelist!

Give me and evangelist

Traveling to Tbilisi, I met some people in a group that were hoping to invite Persians to a local coffee shop outreach (I knew one of the couples before arriving here).  They had some material and an invite prepared and it was well done.  The task of the group was to find Iranians in the city, strike up a conversation, and invite them to the outreach.  They knew where to find Iranians.  Many arrive as tourists and hit the mall on the main drag or seek out other tourist spots in the city.  I was walking generally near to the group that was looking for Iranians, though hanging back a bit, observing.  Two people stood out to me.  One was a teenage girl who was Iranian by heritage but lives here in Tbilisi.  She speaks Persian and English (probably Georgian too).  The other was a near retirement age gentleman.  He was quiet by nature, studious you might say.  As we walked along and as I was observing, I noticed that these were the only two in the group who initiated conversation with people they didn't know.  Once they engaged a person, family or group of Iranians, others would join them in conversation.  Both of these two would turn on there heels to reverse course and try to talk to people that appeared to be Iranian.  Both would leave the group they were walking with in mid-conversation to engage with strangers.

It was interesting to me that everybody else in the group, me included, would lament how difficult it was to approach strangers and to start a conversation.  By contrast, these two just did it.  I think the reason is that these two are evangelists.  The rest of us are not.  That may not excuse the rest of us, but it was an interesting observation.  In the work of the church and in using the gifting of the body I say, "give me an evangelist".  Ephesians 4:11 

Listening

I just read that the losing party in this most recent election here in the U.S. is changing its stance towards immigration to appeal to a demographic that they are losing.  The truth is that when it comes to politics the losing party will always make some change, more or less, to appeal to more people than it currently does so as to do better the next time around.

What about the Church of Jesus Christ?  We can't just change our stance on a position to suit the latest trends.  To do so would be to obviously put the truth of Scripture into a subservient position, which must never do.  However what we can do is communicate in a more relevant way to a culture that still needs to hear the truth, whether or not it wants to.  Here are a couple of thoughts I think we need to implement going forward:

1. We have to become better listeners.

           I was hopeful that here in Minnesota we would pass the amendment that defined marriage as one man/one woman.  It failed, but since Tuesday evening I have been taking the time to ask people who are against it what their reasons are and how one might show opposition without being labeled a ''person of hate".  The best I have come up with so far is that listening is the best way to show that I am not all about hate.  It might be helpful for us to slow down a little bit and not be so hasty to talk about our position.  Perhaps the very act of listening will break down some walls, and then we will be able to go to the next step.

     2. We must become better speakers.
       
           A good speaker is one who knows their audience well.  I can tell when I am speaking to a group of people or to an individual when I am connecting with their world because their is life to the speaking and listening.  If we can become better listeners, then there is hope that we can become better speakers, actually engaging in conversation.  The bottom line is that a bunch of words aren't much good anyway if no one cares what it is we are talking about. 

     3. Love must permeate everything.

         A noisy gong...a clanging cymbal?  Yes, that has been pretty discriptive of how people view those of us who have a message from God.  The antidote is really quite simple according to the Apostle, start with love. 

My goal is to love people enough to listen.  When I can get inside their world and gain a hearing, then perhaps my speech will make more sense.  To the glory of God.

What are you doing in Pankow?

Untitled from Carlyn Cole on Vimeo.

Untitled from Carlyn Cole on Vimeo.