Wellspring UMC; Second
Sunday in Lent; March 4, 2007; “Listening”
-Isaiah
6: 1-8, 9-13
What
is the change in your life which needs to take place in order for you to listen
with your heart?
There is a story told of a young disciple
in
The teacher rose, then suddenly
grabbed the young man and dragged him under the water. Seconds passed, then a minute, the young man
flailing and kicking under the water trying to break free, but the master held
him down until at last he pulled him up, coughing and gasping for air.
The teacher asked, “While you were
under the water, what was it that you wanted?”
“Air,” said the young man, still
trying to catch his breath.
“And how badly did you want it?,”
asked the master.
“It was all I wanted in the
world. With my whole soul I longed only
for air.”
“Good,” said the teacher. “When you long for God in the same way, come
back to me, and you will become my disciple.”
Those
who listened to last week’s message heard that story. That story ran through my mind this week, did
it come to your mind this week? It’s a
story that sticks with us, for it places before us the purpose of Lent –
connecting so powerfully with God that we yearn for God everyday. It reminds us what this Christian life is
about – the quest to glorify and serve God through nurturing a relationship
with Christ. It is a story that invites
us to listen...listen to God, listen to our lives...and listen to our hearts.
Today’s scripture passage is a bit
confusing. In some ways it raises more
questions than answers. Many of us have
heard those first eight verses from Isaiah’s sixth chapter. We’ve imagined before the Seraphs revealed
before the prophet singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord...” Our mind’s eye has painted a picture of
talons wrapped around metal tongs, flying into the fire, plucking out the
burning ember, then touching Isaiah’s lips.
We’ve heard those words of God, “Whom shall I send?,” and the response,
“Send me.” We get that. We understand the boldness, the power, and
the awesome responsibility of the call, but then what do we do with the
fulfillment of the call?
God says, “Go and speak my Word, but
they won’t listen. They’ll keep looking
but not understand. Their minds, ears,
and eyes will be shut, and they’ll want to be healed but will not be able to
be.”
“How long?,” says Isaiah. “Until all the cities are destroyed and the
land is desolate. All the land will be
empty. Even the trees will be cut down
and burned. It will be a wasteland, seemingly
hopeless...”
“Go and speak for me,” God says to
Isaiah, “but know that they won’t hear.”
Why would God say such a thing?
I
don’t believe that God is an orchestra director or puppet master, so when I
read passages such as this one which talks about God stopping up people’s ears
and closing people’s hearts, that just doesn’t jive with how Christ interacts
with us. It doesn’t make much sense to
me that God would be the cause of us not hearing or seeing or responding.
When
I read this passage from Isaiah, where God basically says, “Go and preach, but
they’re not going to hear. Go and be my
voice, but they will not listen or understand,” then I have two choices in
interpretation. One is to say,
“Wow. That’s a pretty harsh God.” Or I can respond, “Wow. God really does know our tendency to think
too much.”
What
is the change in your life which needs to take place in order for you to listen
with your heart?
Last
week we received a call to ‘listen.’
Today we hear of ‘listening.’
There is a difference between ‘listen’ and ‘listening’, and that
difference is found in what we are listening with. God knew full well that the Israelites
weren’t ready to receive God’s Word.
They weren’t ready to repent and be changed. Oh, they attended the
synagogue, made their obligatory sacrifices on holy days, they listened to the
scriptures and even knew them by heart...even took them to heart. But they listened with their heads, and not
their hearts. When we listen solely with
our heads, it’s easy to let God’s word stay right there. When we listen with our hearts, we find
ourselves disturbed to action and if we respond, we find ourselves
changed. In order to fulfill God’s
purposes in life, in order to be changed for God’s purposes, we have to listen
with more than our heads, we have to listen with and follow our hearts.
A few months ago, I was listening to
a sermon given by a pastoral counselor.
She shared a story that I’ll never forget, because it is a heart story
and it is a reminder of the kind of change of heart that must take place in
order for us to fully live into who God needs us to become.
This pastoral counselor went on
retreat to Grace Cathedral in
She made her way downstairs into the
small sitting area where the restrooms were located and headed to the ladies
room. As soon as she opened the door,
she said the stench was overwhelming.
Immediately she looked to the stall in front of her to see a woman,
obviously drunk or high on drugs, dressed in ragged clothes with that street
slickness that comes from living on pavement, and the woman had her head in the
toilet, washing out the vomit that was caked in her hair.
The pastor had the choice of walking
in or walking out, but the Spirit invited her to say, “Are you okay,” as she
walked toward her.
“I’ll be alright. Did you see my friend when you came in?”
“No,” said this clean cut, taken
aback woman.
“Well if you see him, tell him I’m
here,” said the homeless woman.
“Okay.” And the pastor proceeded to use the restroom,
wash her hands, and leave, as the woman continued to wash her hair.
The pastor walked out of the door,
and there in front of her stood a man.
He too wore an overcoat slick from street living and smelling of
despair.
“Did you see my friend in there?,”
he said.
“Yes. She’ll be out in a minute.”
The pastor headed down the hallway,
overwhelmed by that had just happened in the last five minutes. She could hear the ladies room open behind
her, and the voices get fainter. Then as
she was almost to the stairs, about 50 feet from the couple, she heard the
voice of the young lady say, “Hey...”
Stopping and turning the pastor
heard the rest of the sentence, “Can I have a hug?”
And Christ’s love pierced her
heart. He took her by the hand and led
her face to face with this lost soul.
Her arms reached out, and she embraced more than a woman. She embraced Christ. She embraced life. She offered hope to the hopeless.
This pastor said, “I’ve never felt
so powerfully the presence of God is I did in that moment as her body and soul
connected with mine. It changed my
life,” she said. All because she
listened to her heart.
What
change in your life needs to take place in order for you to listen with your
heart? It’s one thing to listen. It’s another to be listening. It’s one thing to listen with your head, it’s
another to listen with your heart.
How
did Isaiah do what he did? How could he
fulfill what God laid out for him?
“Isaiah, I’ve given you this call, and thank you for accepting it, but
know that they won’t hear. They won’t
understand. They won’t listen, and the
result will be that the cities will be a wasteland, the land desolate, the
trees cut down and burned.” How did he
do it? How could he continue listening
and follow?
Well,
he listened with his heart, and he heard the fullness of God’s Word found at
the end of this passage. Isaiah heard
God’s great ‘however’...
“BUT,
despite the desolation, despite not hearing, despite themselves, there is a
holy seed in its stump. Despite their
self-centeredness which will lead to loss, I will never leave but there is a
holy seed planted in the midst of desolation.
Despite the people listening with their heads, and seeing what the world
reveals – the desire to conquer nations and make deals with rulers, I will
restore the nation. But in order to do
so the trials will teach them to look not to the world, but to me. Through the days ahead I will teach them to
listen with their hearts, for that is where I reside.”
Where
are you listening to God? In your head?
in your heart? In your head and heart?
What change needs to take place in order for your to consistently listen
to God and follow?
In
a few minutes we will be receiving the gifts of God’s grace at the table. Here Christ lays out His heart for us and we
lay out our hearts for Christ. As you
come forward, I invite you to listen with your heart and invite God into your
heart, so that all of your life will be a listening for God’s guidance and
purpose.
In
your bulletin you will find a piece of paper, upon which we invite you to write
down where God’s change is happening in your life, what challenges are before
you, or what sins you are wrestling with.
Write those down and bring them forward.
Before receiving communion, take that piece of paper, roll it up tightly
and add it to the cross as a sign of contrition, and a visible statement of
intention to listen to God this season and invite God’s change to be realized
in You. In giving that over, let it be a
release, an opening of your heart to receive Christ fully through Communion
with Him and one another.
What is the change in your life
that needs to take place in order for you to listen to God with all your heart?
Listen...so that all of your life is a listening, then through that listening, You will respond, God will be glorified, and you will be made whole. Amen.