LENT 1B 2009
As many of you know, I spent over five years of my life living communally in a Christian community in the early 1970’s. It was a very formative time in my life. One aspect of that time that I remember fondly was our desire, when we were at our best, to have God lead us and teach us and above all, change us and humble us. We had what we called the chicken coop experience. One of the other communes had work crews that had to shovel chicken manure out of pens, and their pastor told them that this was an opportunity to grow in humility. Also, living together had it challenges. And so another image that we had was that of the smooth stones at the bottom of the river or creek. These stones were smooth because they rubbed against each other over the years. The application was that God uses other people to rub away the rough edges of our life.
But at that time we accepted these type of teachings because we wanted to grow and be changed. Many of us knew at that time that we needed to be changed, and so there was this strong desire to grow in the life and ways of the Lord.
Last week we read the story of the transfiguration, and in that story we read that a voice came from heaven and said: “This is my beloved son; listen to him.” This week I have been thinking about the words: “Listen to him.” And then this week we read about the voice again coming from heaven: “You are my son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And then we read Mark’s very short version of Jesus being driven out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. In this temptation, as we read in Matthew, Jesus hears the voice of Satan, tempting him three times. So I have been thinking about how we all hear voices throughout our life’s journey. If we listen to, or heed these voices, they give direction and guidance to our lives.
I don’t suppose there has been any
time in history, at least that we know of,
where information is so readily available. If you think about it for a
moment, this whole internet thing is
amazing. The academy awards can be on one night and in a few hours you can see
the dresses that the stars wore and then comment on them! Think about an event like this occurring one
hundred years ago. Who outside of
Some voices we listen to more than others. Our parents probably have the strongest influence on our lives, even while we are rebelling against them! But even our parents voices might not be all that healthy for us.
So I return to the command from heaven: “This is my beloved son.. Listen to him.” Amongst all the voices of the world that are coming at us, a Christian wants to hear, to listen to, the voice of God. Usually we come to this point in our lives because we realize that many of the voices that we have followed have let us down. I can remember very clearly that voices of the 1960’s – telling us that “it was our thing, do what we want to do.” or, “make love, not war… which isn’t all that bad, but the way it was lived out didn’t work out so well!
I don’t know what voices you have followed, but I am sure that many of you know what I am talking about when you have taken a road for a while and then discovered that it is not so great. Maybe you have given your soul to a business or company and now, years later, you wonder why, as you are drained and they don’t really care about you. Maybe you have bought into the voice that money is what it is all about and now you realize that it is a lie. Many youth will work and work to get into a great college and then get there, and maybe graduate, and then wonder now what?
I think of that Robert Frost poem about two roads diverging in the narrow woods, and the poet wondering which one to take. As we go through life, we have to make many, many decisions, and as we get older, these decisions often have greater and greater consequences. And we can constantly go down different roads, thinking that this is the one that will finally make me happy, or give me fulfillment, only to travel for a while and then realize that it is not working.
But the voice from heaven tells us to: “Listen to him.” If we really want to find fulfillment in life, it will come from us making the effort to hear the voice of God.. to hear how God wants us to live.
Our Psalm this morning is a beautiful example of this attitude. I don’t think there is any where else in the entire Bible where we can learn more about the spiritual journey than in the Psalms. If you want to learn how to approach God, make the Psalms your friends.
Psalm 25 begins with this verse: “To you, O lord, I lift up my soul…” We hear an echo of this phrase in our Eucharist: “Lift up your hearts.. we lift them to the Lord.” This is a great image. What does it mean to lift up our souls, or hearts to the Lord? First for me it implies an act of the will. It is something that we must do. “I” or “we” do it. Then I have the image of lifting, or taking my soul above,, or out of the day to day reality of life.. Lift it up… raise it up… let my soul rise above the normal hum drum of life.. and when I raise it up, I place my soul, my heart, my very being in the presence of God.
Lets try this for a moment. I know that it takes a little imagination, and for some of us this is not easy. But lets close our eyes.. and imagine a place where God is present… and place ourselves there… and let us say… Lord, I lift my heart and soul and my very being into your presence.. Here I am!
If we are ever going to be able to listen to Jesus, we need to practice lifting our hearts and souls into the presence of God. To do this, as I have said before, we need a place and a time.. A place where we can get alone… and a time where we are fresh and attentive. Whatever works best for us.
I found a great quote from that great Puritan commentator of the Bible, Matthew Henry.
With a holy contempt of the world and the things of
it, by a fixed thought and active faith,
we must set God before us, and let out our desires towards him as the fountain
of our happiness.” (Commentary on the
Psalms)
To lift up our soul, we need to set aside, or rise above, the cares and concerns of the world, and with an act of the will, set God before us, and realize that it is only God’s voice that can bring us to lasting joy and happiness.
The writer of Psalm 25 then goes on to pray, once in God’s presence these types of prayers:
Show
me your ways O lord… Teach me your paths…. Lead me in your truth and teach me…..
Listen to the desire of his heart ‘’’ Lord, Show me…. Teach me….. Lead me….Show me YOUR ways….. YOUR paths…YOUR truth… In essence… let me hear YOUR voice. There are many ways to go.. many paths to take.. many truths of the world around us… but the desire of the person of faith is to see, to know, to learn and to follow the ways of God.
It is a very strange phenomena that people can go to church year after year and have very little knowledge of God’s ways or even a desire to learn and to grow and to be changed. Religion is both a wonderful and dangerous reality. This is a truth Jesus teaches us over and over again in his confrontation with the Pharisees. Having an outward form of religion without the inner reality is like a tomb which is beautiful on the outside but inside is full of bones.
The writer of Psalm 25 teaches us another truth when he tells us that those who are ready to be taught, ready to learn the ways of the Lord, are those who are aware of their weakness and sin, and thus approach God with a humble attitude.
Gracious
and upright is the Lord… therefore he teaches sinners in his way..
He
guides the humble in doing right..
and teaches his way to the lowly.
Again, here we learn a profound spiritual truth. Only those who realize their need for forgiveness and are humbled before God are able to hear the voice of God. If we don’t realize our need, if we are confident and proud, we are not teachable. This is why both Jesus and John the Baptist begin there ministry with a call to repentance. Central to repentance is an awareness of our need to change, to turn around and go in a different direction with our lives.
So, if are able to lift up our souls before God, with a humble and teachable attitude, we are then ready to listen and learn. And thus we are led back to Jesus. As we pray to be taught the ways and the paths and the truth of God, we remember that amazing saying of Jesus in the gospel of John, chapter 14.
“I
am the way, the truth and the life.”
Exactly what this saying means is not easy to understand.. but it certainly means that as we come to know about Jesus.. as we study him and his teachings and his actions we are learning how we should live. As we read and meditate and study his words and actions we are hearing the voice of God spoken to us.
A practical way to begin, of course, is to read the four gospels. Matthew has 28 chapters, Mark16, Luke 24 and John 21. In the next month, anyone of us could read an entire gospel. It is not hard, yet it is hard. To do it we must make a decision of the will and simply do it.. And if we make a place, set aside the time, and make the effort to place ourselves in the presence of God.. we will learn, we will grow,… we will be challenged.. we will hear more clearly the one voice that loves us and desires the best for us.
The Psalmist wrote that “all the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness.” The paths the Lord wants to lead us in are good for us… they will not let us down.. they are like green pastures and still waters… Many, many of the other voices of the world that are calling to us on our I phones and the internet and Movies and TV, and even from some of our friends, do not really care about us or our souls. These voices will only lead us to frustration and often to great pain.
Let me close this message with a suggestion. For one month, read Psalm 25 every day, along with one chapter of a gospel. Set aside a time and a place. Take a moment to lift up your soul… and the prayerfully read… and listen.. and see if you can hear the voice of God.. And if you do this.. let me know how it went.. through e mail or however.. AMEN!