Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church
Ambassadors of Reconciliation

  • Hearing God: Listening in a Noisy World

    Last week I asked if you ever had a problem praying to God, knowing what to say, what to think, what or who to pray for. Prayer is our ultimate deep relationship with God, so it is the best way that we can individually and collectively mature and deepen our connection with God. This week we will discuss how to hear God in a very noisy world.
    Hearing God means we are actively listening and in-tune with God’s voice, God’s prompting, God’s encouragement, God’s motivation, and God’s Spirit. Listening is an intentional act of inviting an outside force into your mind that will offer new information, new data, that could possibly change who you are, confirm who you are, and encourage your present day walk.
    Think through your life and how so much has changed, yet one force that has change, and yet remained, is the noise of life. When you are younger, you have the noise of your ever developing body, your parents/guardians, grandparents, siblings, extended family, friends from the neighborhood, friends from school, rules of school, rules of home, rules of the community you live, and the list goes on and on.
    When you get older your noise changes into adult responsibilities. You have the noise of paying bills, the noise of fixing things that are broken, the noise of family, employment, government, neighborhood, other people’s opinions, and the list goes on and on.
    In your retirement the noise changes again but is still present. You now have noises much like when you were younger and your body is doing things that you’ve never experienced before and you may not like it. You also have the noise of hoping you will have enough money to live on, wanting to be available to have fun, desiring to be with family, more medical appointments than you desire, traveling to new places, and the noise of silence as you see more friends start to leave you one by one.

    God speaks in many ways

    In all of noise of life, in every stage of your life, God still speaks. When you’re younger God speaks in a way that is relevant to a youthful age, in your busy adult years God is speaking above, in between, and beneath the cracks of life, in your maturing years of retirement God is speaking in the silence, the mundane, the unwanted, the joy, and the freedom that this life stage provides. God is always speaking but does so in many different ways so that every age and every culture will be able to hear, and hopefully listen.
    So, in the noise of your life, in whatever stage you are in, how does God speak to you? As a United Methodist Christian how does God speak to you? Looking upon our United Methodist heritage, God is said to speak to us through Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience.
    God’s voice is heard through scripture as it is a collection of 66+ books/letters/poems/songs that were constructed to evidence God engaging in relationship with humanity throughout many millennia. Scripture is one of our ultimate guides for reflection of religious interaction with a holy God and humanity on the onward and upward holiness progression of love. Mark Twain said,
    Most people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand.
    Mark Twain
    For non-Christians scripture can still speak to their existence but other religious or humanistic writings may play a larger role, this is to be expected but for us United Methodist Christians, scripture is still essential in our overall understanding of how God can speak through the generations.
    Tradition is another way God can speak to us. Tradition in the USA in 2024 is going to be different than Tradition in Rome in 1200 or Babylon in 300BC. God will speak through the present day culture in a way that is significant, symbolic, while emphasizing God’s holiness and illuminating human understanding through the ever-present and moving Spirit. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said,
    We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.
    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
    Traditions can come and go depending on the nature of what is needed and necessary for the people, at the time. Some Traditions can also last too long where no one understands why we do this specific act anymore. Traditions can also be good and deepen a prayerful relationship with God. God definitely speaks through the ritualistic acts that we, as a people, choose to do.
    Reason proclaims the active and ongoing knowledge that humans gain over time. You may have heard the phrase before, “we don’t check our brains at the door of the church”, this should be true of every church that you enter. If something simply does not make sense and new knowledge or data on a certain topic proves otherwise, especially if it speaks against a traditional interpretation of scripture, then reason should be highly considered as more relevant. Francis Bacon said,
    A little philosophy inclines men’s minds to atheism, but depth in philosophy brings men’s minds about to religion.
    —Francis Bacon
    Francis Bacon (Philosopher)
    God speaks through education as we learn more about this world, we do learn more about God and can learn to hear God’s voice in new and exciting ways. Reason is good so don’t easily cast it away when you may not fully understand something new.
    Experience is not new but was an addition from Wesley to the people called Methodists. Wesley added experience to the 3-fold Scripture, Tradition, and Reason from the Church of England. Experience is the active voice of the Holy Spirit in the daily life events, activities, and ever evolving culture of humanity. Humanity must listen to God through experiencing life for the maintenance of old relationships and the establishment of new relationships all consists of new and maturing experiences of life. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said,
    We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
    Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
    God definitely speaks through experiences that are new, frightening, uncomfortable, and confirming.
    Tradition, Reason, and Experience all speak to Scripture, as Scripture also speaks to Tradition, Reason, and Experience. God throughout time has spoken when there was no Scripture, no Tradition, and very limited Reason and Experience.

    The Role of Discernment

    This bring us to discernment. We all have the ability to perceive or recognize differences to judge what is right and wrong, good and evil, the voice of God and the will of humanity. Unfortunately, we’ve all come across people who who have very little discernment. There is a quote from an unknown author that says:
    ​
    Little [people] with little minds and little imaginations go through life in little ruts, smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds.
    Unknown
    In other words, there are some people who simply do not have any common sense to see life with another person’s vision or walk through this world in another person’s shoes. In our 1Kings scripture reading , we have the story of Elijah running for his life after the prophets of Baal were killed. Elijah proclaimed God’s word, held to his cultural traditions, reasoned with his real life circumstances, and experienced God anew in a relational conversation. The bookend of this experience was God questioning Elijah, “Why are you here?” God spoke with Elijah to confirm who he was, confirm his prophetic action, confirm that throughout all the noise around him that God is not in the noise of the world. God is ultimately received and heard in the thin, quiet moments of reflection, discernment, and interpretation while journeying in all the noise of this crazy world. Catherine of Siena said,
    The core of pride is impatience and its offshoot is the lack of any discernment.
    Saint Catherine of Siena
    Discerning God’s voice, while in the noisy moments of life, help us to do what the Psalmist invites the readers on multiple occasions-SELAH, to pause, to sit, to reflect, and then act. When one has a prayer life whose foundation is built upon divine discernment then you will have a pray-er who intentionally seeks God’s will as God’s ambassador not the world’s warrior. When we take time to discern we then will be able to hear the voice of God. John 10.27 says
    John 10:27 CEB
    My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.
    In the stillness of life we are able to be attentive to the voice of our Savior, to hear, to listen, and then to follow.

    God desires genuine relationships

    The busyness of life can be so noisy that we, at times, choose to deny God the relationship of his desire. That relationship is to give and receive love with you. The God/human relationship is one of intimacy in prayer, intimacy in action, intimacy in private, and intimacy in public. God never stops pursuing you for there is not an end point to a relationship. In prayer we continue to communicate with God and time with God is needed especially when the world’s noise can be too distracting. Thomas Schreiner says,
    Love for God cannot be sustained without a relationship with him, and such a relationship is nurtured by prayer.
    Thomas Schreiner
    A deeply held prayer life does not have to be one that is outlandish where you are always the person asked to pray in public settings; don’ worry that is always reserved for the pastor, even if the pastor don’t want to do it. A deeply held prayer life can also be very subtle. A deeply held prayer life can be very private. A deeply held prayer life is true prayer. R.T. France says,
    True prayer is not a technique nor a performance, but a relationship.
    R. T. France
    A true relationship with God must have true prayer from the believer or the seeker of the divine. Prayer enters one into the presence of God. Prayer strengthens the relationship with God. Prayer emboldens the faith of the believer in a noisy world. When you are soaked in prayer then you are transformed into your prayers. Warren Wiersbe says,
    Prayer is not something that I do; prayer is something that I am.
    Warren W. Wiersbe
    As we continue to develop our prayerful skills, we develop our listening skills, which develop our divine loving skills. A prayerful heart that listens to and connects with God is an act of love. Saint Augustine said,
    What you love you worship; true prayer, real prayer, is nothing but loving: what you love, that you pray to.
    Saint Augustine of Hippo
    As we pray to that which we love, our words and our actions will unite together as one. Our relationship with God will grow, the deafening noise of the world will extinguish, the words from our tongue will be praise, and people will see a prayerful life of love in action. So whether we are asleep or awake a life of prayer will guide us and help us to hear God more. John Wesley said,
    The moment I awaked, ‘Jesus, Master,’ was in my heart and in my mouth; and I found all my strength lay in keeping my eye fixed upon Him, and my soul waiting on Him continually.
    John Wesley (Founder of the Methodist Movement)

    Silent Reflection and Mindfulness

    As we enter into a new week, I encourage you to take time in silent reflection and mindfully focus upon God in prayer. Last week I invited you to pray the open-hearted disciples prayer. This week I invite you to say a prayer that has been said for many generations, The Jesus Prayer.
    Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner
    Amen.
  • Blest Be the Tie That Binds
  • They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love

      • 2 Corinthians 5:17–21CEB

      • John 17:13–19CEB

  • When we hear the word “ambassador,” we often picture a diplomat in a crisp suit, navigating foreign policy from a grand embassy, standing between two nations to facilitate peace, dialogue, and understanding. An ambassador doesn’t represent themselves. They speak on behalf of another. They don’t set their own agenda; they carry the vision, values, and priorities of the one who sent them.
    As Christians, we are not just disciples. We are not just followers. We are ambassadors, ambassadors of reconciliation. According to Paul in 2 Corinthians 5, this is not a role we choose; it’s one God has entrusted to us. We are called to speak and live on behalf of Christ: not to conquer, not to control, not to dominate, but to reconcile.
    This world, my friends, is not our enemy. It is our mission field. Jesus does not call us to withdraw from the world, to shelter ourselves in bunkers of doctrine, or to build walls of moral superiority. He sends us into the world, not to fight it, but to love it into wholeness. This is our calling. This is the ambassador’s call.*
    Reconciliation as Our Primary Identity
    Paul writes, “So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!” This newness isn’t a private feeling. It’s a public commission. Paul continues, “God has given us the ministry of reconciliation… So we are ambassadors who represent Christ.”
    That means our identity in Christ is inseparable from the call to reconcile. This isn’t a spiritual extra-credit assignment. It is the gospel call. It is the church’s reason for being. Every single disciple of Jesus Christ has been appointed, as an ambassador, for the sole purpose of the ministry of reconciliation. 
    Reconciliation is not about forcing unity through silence. It’s not about pretending all is well. It is the difficult, holy, embodied work of standing in the gap between wounded and wounding, between victim and aggressor, between communities divided by race, politics, economics, history, and theology. Reconciliation does not flatten differences but honors them. It acknowledges injustice and works toward healing. It calls us to confess, to forgive, to change. Reconciliation actually encourages diversity because diversity brings the rainbow of flavors that all people can enjoy and receive benefits through its multicultural offerings.
    Ambassadors of reconciliation cannot hide behind pulpits, pews, or church walls. We must go out. We must speak peace in places that thirst for war, division, and intolerance. We must carry mercy into systems bent on punishment. We must offer grace where fear demands revenge. 
    We must offer an ambassador’s interpretation of scripture, especially around the terminology of God’s wrath. I offer an interpretation that seeks to fully realize what God’s wrath truly means, it cannot go against the ministry of reconciliation, it cannot go against the love of God, it cannot go against the holiness of God. What we, as ambassadors of peace and ministers of reconciliation, proclaim can be perceived and received as wrath against those who are anti-Christ, anti-gospel, anti-God, anti-love. 
    The proclamation and active engagement of reconciliation with the world is felt as God’s wrath and revenge for the simple reason that enemies never expect you to love them, especially when they are actively against you. The apostle Paul is quoting Proverbs 25.21-22 and Deuteronomy 32.35 in his letter to the Romans to show how love is the foundational force for our call to the ministry of reconciliation. It is divine love that is the revenge and wrath of God in action. God’s revenge and wrath have nothing to do with death, suffering, and annihilation; it just feels that way to enemies of the cross. Paul provides proof for this as he quotes the Hebrew Scriptures in Romans chapter 20 verses 18-21 he writes, 
    “If possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people. Don’t try to get revenge for yourselves, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. It is written, “revenge belongs to me; I will pay it back, says the Lord. Instead, If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. By doing this, you will pile burning coals of fire upon his head. Don’t be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.” 
    God will not use evil to defeat evil. This is clear from the words of Jesus when he said, “Satan cannot cast out Satan…how could his kingdom stand?” God’s foundation is build on divine holy love, which cannot do evil, as God’s love shows how to effectively engage our enemies with peace and reconciliation. This, my friends, is how our ambassadorship shines in a world that can be filled with much darkness.*
    “In the World, Not of It”
    Now in John 17, Jesus prays for his disciples: “I’m not asking that you take them out of the world but that you keep them safe from the evil one… Just as you sent me into the world, so I am sending them into the world.”
    Jesus is clear: the world is not something to escape. It is the very place we are called to live and love, you know, “on earth as it is in heaven”. Yet so many churches behave as if the goal of discipleship is isolation. “Don’t associate with them.” “Don’t be tainted by culture.” “Don’t let the world influence your faith.”
    Jesus flips that script. He doesn’t pray for removal, he prays for resilience. He prays that we’ll have the courage to stay engaged, the wisdom to discern, and the strength to remain grounded in grace while walking into mess.
    We are not called to retreat. We are not called to purity bubbles. We are called to embody the gospel in real places with real people. In Mt. Sterling. In Columbus. In Washington, D.C. In Gaza. In rural communities divided by conspiracy theories. In churches wounded by politics. In families torn apart by ideology. In schools where children don’t feel safe. In neighborhoods saturated with despair. We carry the ministry of reconciliation into every place we walk.
    Our ambassadorship doesn’t get checked at the door of the school board meeting, the town council, church committees, the voting booth, the dinner table, or the table of the Lord. We are not part-time peacemakers. We do not stop being disciples when the setting gets uncomfortable. We go into the world as Jesus went. Full of grace and truth and loving to the end. We must refuse to return violence for violence, hatred for hatred, and insult for insult. That’s not even the easy way out, it’s the evil way out. We must choose love and reconciliation regardless of the circumstances.*
    Peacemaking as Public Theology
    Reconciliation is not passive. It is deeply public, deeply theological, and deeply political but it is not partisan. When we speak peace into the world, we are making a theological claim: God is not a God of human vengeance. God is not a nationalist. God is not on anyone’s political side. God is on the side of mercy, justice, peace, love, and life.
    Being ambassadors of reconciliation means we reject every attempt to baptize violence, every effort to wrap the cross in camouflage or red, white, and blue. We are not prayer warriors, we are prayer ambassadors and peacemakers. We do not war in the spirit, we walk in the Spirit. It is that Spirit of God that leads us into the public square with gentleness, humility, and fierce compassion.
    Peacemaking doesn’t mean silence. It doesn’t mean comfort. It often means confrontation, but of a different kind. We confront lies with truth. We confront dehumanization with dignity. We confront empire logic with kingdom values. We don’t conquer, we testify.
    Friends, when Christian leaders call for “holy war” in the name of God, they are not ambassadors of Christ. They are agents of the empire in a clerical collar. When pastors bless political rallies like revival meetings, they are not reconciling people to God. They are reconciling the gospel to a flag or a political party platform and in doing so, they fracture the witness of the Church.
    When megachurch pastors preach the prosperity gospel and tie your holiness to your income, they are not bearing witness to the kingdom of God. They are affirming the empire’s idolatry of wealth. When church leaders endorse legislation that marginalizes immigrants, trans youth, pregnant women, veterans, the elderly, or those without housing, they are not protecting holiness, they are betraying the very Christ who became homeless for our sake.
    The ministry of reconciliation demands that we reclaim public theology. Not to control the public, but to speak a different word: love over fear, grace over retribution, mutuality over hierarchy.*
    Commissioned to Restore, Not Dominate
    The core of our calling is restoration. Not rule. Restoration. Reconciliation is not about returning to a mythic past; it’s about participating in God’s dream for a just and healed future.
    The Church is not the spiritual arm of the township, local, state, or federal government. It is not an empire’s moral mouthpiece. It is not a warrior tribe fighting for dominance in a pluralistic world. The Church is the body of Christ, broken for the world, not weaponized against it.
    To be commissioned by Christ is to enter the wounds of the world, not to inflict them. It is to stand in the place of risk. It is to offer the better way even when no one wants to hear it. Ambassadors are not always welcomed. Jesus says, “I send you out like sheep among wolves.” We must remember that the wolves are dressed like the sheep; that is the reality of reconciliation.
    We are to stand between police officers and protesters, clergy and wounded congregants, parents and estranged children, nations and the nuclear button. To stand there in Christ’s name means we cannot take sides as the world defines them. We stand for peace. We stand for justice. We stand for dignity.
    Where there are dividing walls, we bring ladders, not battering rams. Where there is violence, we bring healing, not retaliation. Where there is oppression, we advocate, not dominate; always defend and never attack.
    Hear me clearly: the kingdom of God has no border walls. It has no voter suppression. It has no systemic racism. It has no caste system of clergy and laity. It has no Christian privilege. It is a kingdom without swords, without crowns, without nuclear arsenals, without golden thrones. Its only weapon is love. Its only law is grace. Its only crown was made of thorns.
    So, church, what do we carry with us when we walk out those sanctuary doors?We don’t carry talking points. We carry a testimony. We don’t carry offensive weapons. We carry towels and basins. We wear the defense of the Lord which starts with compassionate restraint that hopefully calms chaotic events.
    Ambassadors of reconciliation are not easily admired. We are often misunderstood. We are called naïve, soft, unpatriotic. Yet, we are also the ones who reflect the God who so loved the world, not that he judged it, but that he offered every possibility to become Christ-minded while living in it.
    We do not get to decide who is worthy of reconciliation. We are not gatekeepers. We are bridge builders. That means we reconcile across political lines. Across racial divides. Across theologies. Across denominations. Across personal grudges and long-standing wounds.
    We are called to walk into fractured families and say, “There’s still room for healing.” We are called to enter broken communities and say, “There’s still hope.” We are called to confront hateful systems and say, “There is still a better way.”
    That way is Christ. Christ sends us, every one of us from this church in Mt. Sterling, to every corner of our Annual Conference and beyond to the borders we’re told to fear, to the communities that make us uncomfortable. We go not as conquerors but as reconcilers.
    We go as ambassadors of a God who will never give up on reconciliation. So may we not retreat when the work gets hard. May we not dilute the gospel for the sake of comfort or security. May we not preach the kingdom and promote the empire. May we carry this ministry of reconciliation as if the world depended on it because, my friends, in many ways, it does. May it be so. Amen.
    Let’s pray: God of peace and reconciliation, send us into the world not as warriors, but as witnesses of your mercy, your justice, your unstoppable grace. Make us faithful ambassadors, even when the world misunderstands. Teach us to reconcile where others divide, to stand between where others run, to love where others hate. May we carry your presence into every space, never abandoning our call, never forsaking your peace. In the name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Servant of All. Amen.
Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church
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(740) 869-3577
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