Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church
Courageous Diplomacy in a Divided Land

  • 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.
  • Lift Every Voice And Sing
  • We Walk by Faith, and Not by Sight

      • Acts 17:22–31CEB

      • Romans 12:17–21CEB

  • There is a kind of courage that doesn’t wear armor, doesn’t shout slogans, doesn’t carry weapons. This courage doesn’t try to overpower, dominate, or win debates. It listens deeply, speaks wisely, and refuses to mirror the rage of the world but neither does it retreat from it. This, my friends, is the courage of Christ-centered diplomacy and it is the courage of the gospel call.
    We are living in a cultural moment shaped by division and it has been going on for generations. This anti-christ division ramps up from time to time, specifically by wolves in sheep’s clothing; the same wolves that create chaos to increase their bottom line. The bottom line is power and control over others through the imagination of humanity creating havoc in order to offer a pseudo peace. 
    From the highest levels of government, to the “coffee-filled” backrooms of fundamental churches, and encroaching upon the family meal time, disagreement has turned into hostility. Conviction has mutated into contempt. Pluralism has been framed as a threat rather than a gift. In such a fractured world, we are tempted to mimic the tactics of a nationalistic religious empire whose only gifts are shouting louder, defending harder, labeling enemies, and drawing lines that are usually masked in false theological concerns. Yet, the call of Christ is not to be warriors within the empire’s cultural war. The call of a follower of Christ is to be courageous diplomats in a land defined by suspicion, puritanical legalism, and tribalism that leads to genocidal events.
    Siblings of God, our calling as disciples of Jesus is not to enforce truth, but to embody wisdom and mercy. The world does not need louder voices demanding allegiance, we have enough of that verbal diarrhea in and outside of the church. The world needs faithful Christ-centered witnesses whose very lives speak the language of grace. God’s truth does not arrive by coercive force, it arrives through relationship, dialogue, and the persistent invitation of uncontrolling love. In a divided land, God sends ambassadors whose call is not to fight, but to persuade; not to conquer, but to reconcile.*
    Paul on Mars Hill: Speaking the People’s Language
    Acts 17 gives us a masterclass in courageous diplomacy. Paul finds himself in Athens, a city full of idols, philosophies, competing worldviews, and religious devotion. Although scripture reads that Paul was deeply distressed by what he experienced, he does not begin with condemnation, nor does he launch into a theological lecture. Paul begins by paying attention, observing their culture, and studies their language. He walks their streets to see gain a greater relational understanding of who they are and what they believe. Once he sees all the possibilities of touching the part of their life that may be open to the movement of the Spirit of God, he addresses them with respect and curiosity: “People of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way.”
    This is not flattery, even though Paul knew how to speak to the heart of the issue. This opening remark to the crowd, who was already interested in knowing more about Paul’s strange statements, was an invitation to something they lacked. Paul is meeting them where they are, not seeking their change first, and not demanding they come to him. He quotes their own poets making him sound knowledgable. He acknowledges their longing to know God more and affirms their spiritual and philosophical search. Then, through that shared language, he introduces the unknown God they do not yet know, the God who is not far from any one of us, the God in whom we live and move and exist as we strive in our becoming.
    Paul’s speech is deeply symbolic. What we may read as literal to our modern, Western eyes was actually crafted to resonate with Athenian thinkers who lived in a world of myth, metaphor, and moral vision. Paul is not watering down the gospel. He is translating it into a language that can be heard. This way of revealing the truth through story telling was not compromise but was normal and is courageous. Paul stepped out in faith that God could still use mythological stories to bring light in a city of shadows.
    In a world obsessed with certainty and argument, Paul models something different, a model that we can still benefit from today. He does not attempt to win a debate, in fact, he would probably lose the debate with all those Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Paul attempts to win hearts through a posture of persuasion. Paul is not defending God because God doesn’t need defending. He is revealing God through thoughtful engagement and that is what ambassadors do.*
    Overcoming Evil with Good
    Our Romans reading offers the ethic that undergirds Paul’s diplomacy. “Do not repay anyone evil for evil…If possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people…Don’t be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.” This is not accepting others evil actions by not giving back with what you receive. This is resistance rooted in the character of God that guides the ambassadors of Christ to appropriately and effectively respond in love. It is the refusal to mimic the violence and divisiveness of the world. An ambassador called to a reconciling diplomacy always brings the bold declaration that only goodness can overcome evil.
    Empires relies on coercion and it doesn’t matter what type of empire it is; spiritual or nationalistic. The gospel of Jesus relies on persuasion. Empires draw boundaries and enforces allegiance violently or through subtle emotional abuse. The gospel invites transformation through an ever evolving relationship that never demands and always invites. Empire demands uniformity through threats. While the gospel of Jesus celebrates unity in diversity.
    This, my friends, is why Open and Relational Theology is so vital in this conversation. It reminds us that God does not force any dictates upon us. God lovingly persuades and helps to identify all the possibilities of peace. God does not predetermine the steps we take nor control future outcomes. God works through invitation, cooperation, and partnership with all of creation. Romans 12 echoes that theological vision: “Let God deal with evil as you mimic God’s ongoing action, which is to love in all circumstances.”
    Now, friends, this does not mean we stay silent in the face of injustice. It means our resistance must be holy as we continue to walk towards perfection in love. Our resistance must reflect the heart of God. As God does, so we are to overcome evil with good and that does not mean we submissively back down. It means we are to stand firm in compassion, integrity, and hope.
    Scripture reads, in 1st John that God is light, and in God there is no darkness at all. As James 1.17 reminds us, every good and perfect gift comes from above. God is not the author of confusion or division. God does not delight in the chaos of culture wars. God is not behind the rhetoric of fear, which is the antithesis of everything God represents. The gospel of Jesus Christ will never be found in clickbait for it contains the storehouse of mercy that is open wide for all to receive. The light of the gospel will be found in a cup of water, in a listening ear, in a peace filled witness that endures, no matter what.*
    Courageous Dialogue, Not Culture War
    Our society does not need more loud voices on the evil battlefield of harmful evangelical ideology, it needs more courageous dialogue. Dialogue is not weakness nor is it compromise. Dialogue is the lifeblood that fulfills the greatest commandments, love God and your neighbor as yourself. It is how we move toward one another. It is how we discover truth, not just in theory, but in practice.
    Relational communication activates the very parts of our brain responsible for empathy, reasoning, and perspective-taking. When we engage across lines of difference and listen to voices from cultures and communities other than our own, we begin to see with renewed eyes and hear with renewed ears. We develop a life hermeneutic, a way of interpreting reality that is richer, wiser, and more faithful to the call of God.
    Frankly, my friends, culture wars flatten everything into categories: liberal or conservative, pro this or anti that, for us or against us. This binary thinking does not reflect the complexity of creation or the nuance of the gospel. God is not interested in red lines and bumper-sticker theology. God is interested in wholeness. God is interested in healing. 
    Courageous diplomacy requires a willingness to enter complex spaces and stay at the table. It means acknowledging that we don’t know everything and confessing our blind spots. It means resisting the temptation to scapegoat or stereotype. Most importantly, it means showing up NOT to win, but to witness.
    This is how we testify to the borderless love of Christ. We do not show up to argue people into the Kingdom. We show up to embody the Kingdom. We show up as ambassadors of peace, not defenders of purity or prohibition.*
    Ambassadorship as Bold, Compassionate Presence
    An ambassador never speaks in their own name. An ambassador speaks on behalf of another under whom they are in authority. If we claim the title of ambassador for Christ, then our words, our actions, our tone, our posture, all of it must reflect the holiness and love of the one who sent us. 
    Wherever you step as a disciple of Jesus, you carry the authoritative message of the Kingdom with you. Whether you’re at work, in school, at the grocery store, or sitting across the table from someone you disagree with, you represent a love that crosses all borders. You carry a gospel that, first and foremost, is grounded in Jesus Christ whom does not belong to any nation, any political party, or any theological tradition. You carry a truth that is not guarded by walls but guided by mercy.
    You cannot shed this call unless you walk away from Christ himself, which is always a temporary possibility. The gospel, my friends, is not a badge we wear on Sundays, it is a vocation we live every day. We are not part-time ambassadors. We are full-time messengers, which means, we cannot take off the cross that we are supposed to carry daily. We must remember that the cross does not represent violence or divine satisfaction, it represents what we humans simply cannot handle, uncontrolling, undeniable, and all-encompassing love.
    The bold presence of Christ’s ambassador means we do not shrink back when the conversation gets hard. Compassionate presence means we don’t lash out when we feel attacked nor do we preemptively strike a blow with weapons of mass destruction. Ambassadorship is not about self-protection, it is about faithful representation.
    To be a disciple of Jesus is to show up in divided spaces and say, “There is another way.” Not with arrogance or fear but with a grace-filled confidence that we can trust the God who sent us to deliver the message.*
    Start Local and Carry With You
    Actively carrying the message is not theoretical work. It is not limited to seminaries or pulpits or comment sections. This is local and very real for wherever you call home. The conversations at your dinner table, your group of friends, your work environment are all tangible examples of where you must not take of the message but bear the message, especially where you are most comfortable, you know, the places where we tend to let our guard down.
    Our community is not immune to division no matter how small we think we are. There are neighbors who feel excluded from the church. Some have been burned by doctrine. Others have been dismissed for their identity, their questions, or their pain. We cannot speak the gospel with credibility unless we first speak with love in the name of Jesus Christ, the son of God.
    Family of God, if people in the city, in which you live, see the church as a place of judgment more than welcome, we have failed in our ambassadorship. If our community believes they must conform to belong, we have misrepresented Christ. If our message becomes a set of rules rather than a revelation of grace, we have slipped into empire thinking.
    Ambassadors of Jesus make room. We make peace and space for others to breathe. That’s our Christ calling.*
    Jesus: The True Diplomat of Heaven
    Now, here is where I believe we need to model our only allegiance to the unchanging message. What has been revealed should never be altered to fit our self-imposed message because the message we represent from God is that Jesus, and only Jesus, is the ultimate model of courageous diplomacy. He entered a world divided by race, religion, politics, and purity codes. He engaged with Samaritans, Pharisees, tax collectors, zealots, and sinners. He never sugarcoated the truth but also he never used truth as a weapon. His words were fire and balm while his actions were both protest and healing.
    Jesus knew when to confront, when to weep, and when to remain silent. He knew how to speak the language of fishermen, scholars, women at wells, and children on the margins, and even those separated brethren called Gentiles. He knew how to draw people in without diluting the call to transformation. Jesus is our example, our guide, our truth.
    I guess he could have called legions of angels to do the work of messengers. Instead, he carried a cross. He could have demanded allegiance. Instead, he washed dirty, stinky feet. Jesus is what true power looks like and that is what courageous diplomacy demands.*
    A Final Word to the Ambassadors
    In closing, you do not need to be the loudest voice in the room to be the most faithful one. You do not need a platform to be effective. You need a compassionate presence as you remain rooted in the gospel, not empire culture wars. You need mercy that refuses to be politicized.
    Speak like Paul with curiosity, humility, and clarity. Live like Jesus with boldness, compassion, and peace. Embody Romans 12 not as a platitude, but as a strategy for survival in a divided land. Let your very presence testify that another kingdom is possible.
    For where others build walls, we build bridges. Where others curse, we bless. Where others divide, we reconcile. Where others wage war, we bring the message of peace. This is courageous diplomacy that represents the gospel set apart from empire. Amen.
Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church
sterlingfirstumc@yahoo.com
(740) 869-3577
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