Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church
Peace as Healing: God’s Spirit Advances

  • 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.
  • It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

      • Isaiah 61:1–3NRSVUE

      • Isaiah 61:8–9NRSVUE

  • Angels from the Realms of Glory

      • Matthew 3:1–12NRSVUE

  • “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me”. These words from Isaiah 61 are some of the most powerful and transformative in all of scripture. They’re the words Jesus read in the synagogue at Nazareth when he announced his ministry, declaring that this ancient promise was being fulfilled in their hearing. And they still speak to us today about what it means to be God’s people, anointed by the Spirit to participate in God’s healing work in a broken world.
    Isaiah speaks of being anointed to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners. This isn’t a distant promise for some far off future, it was the restorative activity taking place in Jerusalem at the time of its writing. We could also say that it is the work God is collaborating with us right now in the divine kingdom. We lit the second candle of Advent this morning, often called the candle of peace, and Isaiah shows us what that peace actually looks like; it’s not the absence of trouble, but the active presence of healing, restoration, and liberation.
    In Open and Relational theology, we understand that God is always at work in the world, always offering new possibilities for healing and wholeness, always persuading us toward love and justice. But God doesn’t impose this work from above. God invites partnership. God anoints people, like you and me, to be agents of peace, bearers of good news, and healers of brokenness. This Advent, as we receive and live into the ever coming of Christ, we’re being anointed for mission. The question is: are we willing to receive the Spirit and join the work?
    Beauty from Ashes, Gladness from Mourning
    Isaiah paints this stunning picture of transformation: God will give “a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit”. This is the kind of radical reversal that characterizes God’s kingdom. It’s not just making things marginally better, but completely transforming what seemed hopeless into something beautiful and life giving.
    Think about that image: ashes into a garland. Ashes are what’s left when everything has burned away, when nothing remains but residue and memory and loss. A garland is a crown of beauty, a sign of celebration and honor and new life. God doesn’t sweep up the ashes or help us cope with them. God invites us into a possibility of transformation as we shape them into something worth celebrating. Mourning becomes gladness. A crushed spirit becomes praise. This is the work of a God who refuses to give up on us, who sees possibility where we see only ruin, who calls forth life from death itself.
    Here’s what matters for our lives today, this transformation isn’t magic, and it isn’t God working alone while we sit back and watch. This is co-creation. God offers the possibility of beauty from ashes, but we have to participate in the process. We have to be willing to receive the Spirit’s anointing, to let God work with us to bind up the brokenhearted and proclaim liberty to the captives. Peace, as healing, means we become partners with God in the ongoing work of restoration, agents of divine possibility in a world that desperately needs good news .
    The prophet says those who are transformed will be called “oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory”. Strong trees, deeply rooted, a divine plant for a divine purpose. That’s who we’re becoming through God’s healing work, not perfect people who never struggle, but resilient people who’ve been transformed by grace and are now capable of offering shelter and strength to others .
    God’s Everlasting Covenant
    Then Isaiah declares something crucial: “For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them”. God’s commitment to peace isn’t just about personal comfort or individual wholeness, it’s rooted in justice. God loves justice. God hates robbery and wrongdoing. The peace God offers always includes setting things right, addressing systemic wrongs, ensuring that the vulnerable are protected and the oppressed are liberated.
    This is important because sometimes we want peace without justice, comfort without change. We want God to make us feel better without addressing the conditions that caused the harm in the first place. But that’s not the peace Isaiah proclaims, nor is it the peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding. The peace that heals is the peace that does justice, that confronts wrongdoing, that makes things right. And God promises to be faithful in this work, establishing an everlasting covenant with the faithful.
    In our Wesleyan understanding, this is the process of sanctification.It’s where we work with God’s ongoing luring to press on towards perfection in love; love of God and love of neighbor. God’s spirit advances in the world through people who say yes to justice, who refuse to settle for cheap peace that ignores suffering, and who commit themselves to the hard work of binding up wounds and proclaiming liberty .
    The Call to Bear Fruit
    Then we hear John the Baptist shouting in the wilderness: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. John’s not exactly a peaceful figure, he’s dressed in camel’s hair, eating locusts and wild honey, calling the religious leaders a “brood of vipers”. But John understands something crucial about the peace God offers: it requires transformation, not just affirmation of our self-perception.
    “Bear fruit worthy of repentance,” John demands. Don’t just say you’re sorry. Don’t just claim your religious heritage. Show me the fruit. Show me the change. Show me that God’s spirit is actually at work in your life, producing something new, something good, something that looks like justice and mercy and humble service.
    This is where John’s message connects powerfully with Isaiah’s vision. The spirit anoints us to bring good news to the oppressed, but that anointing requires response. We can’t claim to be part of God’s healing work while living in ways that perpetuate harm. We can’t talk about peace while ignoring injustice. We can’t celebrate transformation while refusing to change. John warns that the ax is already laid to the root of the trees; God is serious about this work, and unfruitful religion won’t cut it.
    In Open and Relational theology, we emphasize that God offers possibilities but doesn’t coerce response. God invites, persuades, lures us toward the good, but we can say no. We can resist. We can claim to be God’s people while bearing no fruit of God’s kingdom. John’s harsh words are a wake up call: if we want to be part of God’s advancing Spirit, if we want to participate in the peace that heals, we have to respond with our lives, not just our words.
    Preparing the Way Today
    So what does this mean for us, here and now, in the second week of Advent? It means we’re being called to something more demanding and more beautiful than passive waiting. We’re being anointed by God’s Spirit to participate in the healing of the world. We’re being invited to co-create with God the “new heaven and new earth” that Isaiah envisions. A world where mourning turns to gladness, where justice rolls down like waters, where peace is not just the absence of conflict but the presence of wholeness.
    This requires honest self-examination. What ashes in our lives need transforming? What brokenheartedness needs binding up? Where are we being called to proclaim liberty? And equally important: what fruit are we bearing? Are our lives showing evidence of God’s spirit at work, or are we just going through religious motions?
    God’s Spirit is advancing and continuously luring us towards the possibilities for healing and restoration every single day. The question is whether we’ll join that advance or resist it. Whether we’ll let ourselves be anointed for mission or stay comfortable in our routines. Whether we’ll pursue the peace that does justice or settle for the peace that avoids discomfort .
    This Advent, may we open ourselves to the spirit’s anointing. May we bear fruit worthy of repentance. May we be transformed from mourning to gladness, from faint spirits to praise. May we become oaks of righteousness, deeply rooted in God’s everlasting covenant of justice and love. May we join God’s advancing work of healing, bringing good news to the oppressed and binding up the brokenhearted, until the peace of Christ fills all creation. May it be so. Amen.
Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church
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