God Is Still
Speaking
Pentecost + 5 – July 14, 2019
“God Has Spoken”
“Never place a period where God has placed a
comma.”
· Gracie Allen apparently wrote this in last letter to
husband George
· UCC (United Church of Christ) picked it up in
campaign: “God is still speaking”
· To remind themselves and the wider world that God
isn’t done with the world; that God has more to say; that God is still
communicating with the world
“Long ago, God spoke to our ancestors in many and
various ways by the prophets…” –
apparently they didn’t listen very well ;)
· Author of Hebrews reminds his readers from the
beginning/intro of this “brief word of exhortation” (13 chapters worth!) of
God’s interaction with the world
o From the very beginning, God has been talking to/with
humankind
§ Directly with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden
§ Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
§ Speaking through a burning bush to Moses (that’ll
catch your attention, no?!)
§ Sending angels as messengers to carry God’s message to
so many
§ Calling forth prophets sent to bring a word of
judgment or warning at times; other times of hope and comfort (not telling the
future in the way we often think of prophecy)
· God has a lot to say!
· Challenge is that God’s people haven’t always listened
o History revealed in the Bible (Hebrew Scriptures and
New Testament) is that people tend to be stubborn and rebellious and distracted
– easily blown off God’s course/path for them
o (40 years wandering in the wilderness instead of
entering the promised land after being led out of Egypt wasn’t b/c they got
physically lost along the way… it was consequence for not trusting/following
God)
God is still speaking – but we don’t always listen
either
· Right? We say
we’d like a word from God – some sense of divine guidance and wisdom
o The neon sign flashing at us, telling us in no
uncertain terms which way to go or what decision to make or what to do next
o But we either 1) don’t always like what we hear/do
what God says – b/c it seems too hard or to ask too much or to be a not
rational/logical action b/c we don’t have all of the pieces in place (requires
trust that God will fill in the gaps along the way)
o Or 2) we are too busy/distracted/too much noise in our
lives to really hear
§ Like my kiddos upstairs in their rooms, reading a
book, playing on their tablets, watching TV – they can hear me, but they are
not focused on my voice and what I am saying to them (calling to dinner, asking
for chores to be done, even inviting to something fun sometimes!)
o Sometimes, what God is saying makes us uncomfortable,
convicts us of how we are living, calls us to repent – to go and sin no more –
and that’s a hard word to hear and obey too
Yet 1 of the amazing things the author of Hebrews
wants to remind his audience is that God doesn’t give up on speaking to God’s
people!
· Throughout all of human history, God has been speaking
to God’s people, he says – in many and various way (by the prophets)
· But now something/someOne new is on the scene.
· Whoever the (anonymous) author of Hebrews is writing
to (we don’t really know – just that they were super-familiar with the Hebrew
scripture/stories), they believed that Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and
ascension had ushered in the beginning of the last days, before coming again
and fully bringing God’s reign/rule on earth
o Expecting him to come any day – but it’s been awhile
now and they’re starting to get discouraged, deflated, wondering what’s taking
too long
· And the writer (or Preacher, perhaps) wants them to
hang on, to remember that in these last days, God has spoken to them by the Son
o And when they look to Jesus, hear his stories, see how
he lived in the world, how he treated others, as well as what he taught and
lived about God, they see one who is the reflection of God’s glory – like rays
of light coming directly from the sun;
o he is the exact imprint of God’s very being, like the
imprint of a signet ring in sealing wax;
· When they look at Jesus and listen to him, they see
who God is; they can trust that he conveys what God wants them to know – about
God, about themselves, about who they are to be in relationship to the divine
and the world around them
· And Hebrews says – you should listen to him, b/c he is even higher than the angels – and
yet was willing to come and be the Word made flesh, dwelling among us –
· So be quiet and pay attention!
God is still speaking. No period at the end of
this sentence
· God still communicates to us through the Son – through
the words of God written down in scripture, through the Holy Spirit moving in
our hearts, through moments of silence, through conversation with others,
through books and movies and art, through music –
o God does not get tired of trying to get through to us
o God gets creative
· But we see and hear and know God most clearly through
Jesus the Son – who reveals a God who is persistent in speaking – a God of love
and grace and mercy
· And also a God who wants better for all of God’s
beloved children and for all of God’s beloved creation
· God does not just speak to us as individuals, but as a
congregation, as a denomination, as the family of Christ in the whole church
· This God who is still speaking challenges us to
listen, to allow our hearts and minds and lives to be transformed as we
remember that our understanding of God is a growing and maturing thing
o God isn’t just concerned with our individual day to
day decisions and experiences and actions, but speaks to us collectively about
the challenges and sorrows of the wider world
o God is still speaking about the ways God’s children
are treated – about sexism and patriarchy, about racism, about homo- and
trans-phobia, about refugees and immigrants.
o God is still speaking about how we are caring for the
world God has created – as we see climate disruption and islands of plastic in
the oceans and glaciers melting and increased storm magnitude and flooding, and
species dying out
· God loves us. God has not abandoned us, even in these
last days that are so much later than when Hebrews was written
· God is still speaking. Let’s listen. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment