January 13, 2008 Message

Listening for God
Matthew 3:13-17

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

God spoke. And someone was listening – enough anyway that Matthew records it in his gospel. No doubt Jesus heard it because right away he was off to the wilderness somewhere getting ready for what was to come next. Whether someone else heard what God said is not clear but our faith leads us to believe God’s voice can be heard – if we listen.

"This morning," said the pastor, "I'm going to talk about the relationship between fact and faith. It is a fact that you are sitting here in this room. It is also a fact that I am standing here talking to you. But it is faith that makes me believe that you might be listening to what I have to say."

Today we are bombarded by a conglomerate of voices and noises all around us no matter where we are at or where we turn. And we live with all this noise without thinking twice. We hear these voices from somewhere ‘out there’ and it’s no big deal. Yet without knowing it these voices often control our lives. Ernest T. Campbell writes that these voices "from above," as he puts it, can even lock us in "rooms with open doors" or suspend us in a strange or bizarre way of living. These voices can determine what we buy, what we eat, what we expect from others, even what we think about ourselves.

Why isn't God's voice more discernible than all those other loud voices sounding in our head? Perhaps we have become so mesmerized by the sound of our own voices we listen only to voices that sound like our own. Voices that sound too different - that have a different accent, that speak a different language, that are higher or lower in tonality than our own, that use too large a vocabulary, or ignore basic rules of grammar - too often aren’t really heard at all.

Perhaps as Americans, we have enjoyed a culture of essentially ‘one voice’ for too long. We insist that everyone speak our languages - English, scientific rationalism, free-market consumerism. These are powerful, persuasive languages. But as we enter the 21st century we are being called to listen ever more attentively to multilingual voices that are carrying different messages. God sent Jesus to a multicultural, multilingual population. Jesus was raised where many different languages and voices were commonplace. He was raised to be a multilingualist. Yet he could always distinguish God's voice among all the languages he encountered throughout his ministry.

In Jesus' day, Galilee was a cultural crossroads, as different from Jerusalem and the heart of Judaism as any area could be. It was an area populated by people of many different nations and cultures, with new people coming in all the time. In its history, Galilee was at times ruled or controlled by Babylon, Persia, Egypt, Syria and Assyria. It has been suggested, "God could hardly have chosen a more multicultural context into which to send Jesus of Nazareth."

Galilee can be seen as a symbol of God firmly anchoring biblical faith in the fringes and margins of the social order rather than in the centers of power. Consider what that means for all of us. Where do we most often find ourselves, as individuals or as the church - in the fringes or margins of society, with those whose voices and lives are different than our own, or more in the center or mainstream, where we all speak the “same language”? Jesus' Galilean model suggests that the greatest need for the gospel is in fact with the “most marginalized of society,” those whose voices either are never heard or if they are, never understood because they are different from our own. God calls us to be there too!

But do we really listen? Have we really heard God’s voice among all the voices that clamor for our attention everyday? Can we actually pick out God's voice from all the other voices? Are we able to hear, as Jesus did, God say, “This is my son (or daughter), the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” True, God affirms Jesus’ identity in these words. And true, God also commends his obedience by what is spoken. But also, Jesus was about to embark on a journey, a ministry, and the realization of God’s purpose for his life and God’s promise to his people.

Baptism is that sort of moment. It is a life defining moment. It is a moment when God claims us, commends us and sends us off on a journey, a ministry, and the realization of what God intends us to be. The church has tried to dress it up a bit in sacramental finery, but the reality is - baptism is more radical than what happens here in the sanctuary. It is no less than our symbolic death to sin and our rebirth in Christ to righteousness and justice and peace (hence the bird). At this moment of new beginnings, Christ's voice can be heard - if we listen closely enough - introducing us personally to the Father for the first time: "This is my beloved brother;" or "This is my beloved sister .... I am well-pleased with them and am sending them out to do my work.”

Baptism bonds us together; it connects us through Christ one to another. Most importantly, baptism is based in Christ's life, death and resurrection, not some mysterious ‘sacred brotherhood or sisterhood’ centered on human friendship or warm community. It includes people rather than setting them apart. Jesus’ was a life of ministry to all. His was a death for all. And his was a resurrection including us all. Through baptism we are truly, as Paul says in Galatians 3:28, "one in Christ Jesus."

Do you believe that? Really believe? In Acts 10:34-43 Peter spells out what he believes. It’s taken him awhile to reach a mature faith and now lays it out. Reverend Bill Cotton, former Superintendent of the old Creston and Muscatine Districts of the Iowa Conference, shared in his Memo for Preachers that today, when we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord, it is a good time to think about what we believe and what defines us personally as a follower of Christ. He says,
“I wrote my Credo in 1959 and can’t believe some of what I said. To see it today makes me realize that the journey of Peter offers hope to all of us who have gone through stages of faith development and are not yet finished. That is what I like most about being United Methodist. Our baptism is the beginning of a faith journey with others that is not complete...indeed will not be completed in this life.”

I imagine if I looked at what I believed twenty years ago… or ten years ago… or even a year ago, I’d find it hard to believe as well. I imagine you would too. But that’s okay, after all – isn’t that what the journey is all about? And isn’t that what baptism is all about? What comes next!

Next week we’ll hear more. We’ll discover what comes next. We’ll hear Jesus ask his new disciples from John: “What are you looking for?” And when they respond, “Teacher, where are you staying?” we’ll hear Jesus say, “Come and See.” The significance of this simple statement - “Come and See” - is huge! Our baptism calls us (using the words of Kathleen Norris) not so much to a certain way of thinking as doing – and not doing so much as being and witnessing.

God’s voice was heard. It still is… sometimes. We don’t always hear. When we do hear, we don’t always understand. The language may not be ours. But Jesus understood. He was God’s own. God was pleased. And God had great plans for him.

God has gladly claimed us as well… and made us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to the whole world. Listen carefully! Hear God’s voice. And imagine the journey ahead.