Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church
Refreshing Your Body

  • 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.
  • God Will Take Care of You
  • Great Is Thy Faithfulness

      • 3 John 2–4NRSVUE

  • Some people arrive in January full of resolutions and gym memberships, and others arrive exhausted and sore, with a quiet sense of failure before the year even begins. The holidays have taken a toll. The calendar has turned. Suddenly there is pressure to “fix” our bodies—lose weight, get stronger, be more disciplined, become some imagined better version of ourselves. Underneath that pressure often lies a cruel message: “Your body, as it is, is not enough.” Into that noise, the gospel speaks a different word. God is not standing over us with a clipboard, demanding perfect bodies and flawless habits. God meets us in our present bodies—tired, recovering, aging, anxious, strong, disabled, sick, healing—and calls those bodies holy places where the Spirit is at work. The theme today is “Refresh Your Body,” and the big idea is that care for the body is essential for physical strength, and that maintaining the holy order of the body equips a person to increase a flourishing faith and the well-being of others. The question is not, “How can I fix myself to earn God’s approval?” but, “How can I receive my body as a gift and partner with the Spirit so that life, faith, and love may flourish?”
    Temple Bodies: Gifted, Not Perfect (1 Corinthians 6:19–20)
    When Paul writes, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you…you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body,” these words have often been used like a purity spotlight, scanning for flaws and failures. But the heart of the verse is not condemnation—it is revelation. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. A temple is a place where heaven and earth meet, where the divine presence chooses to dwell. A temple is not holy because its stones are flawless; it is holy because God has chosen to be there. Your body—your real, current body—is a place where God has chosen to be. God is not waiting for you to become younger, thinner, stronger, more able, or more put-together before showing up. God’s Spirit dwells in arthritic hands, chemo-filled veins, anxious stomachs, restless minds, scarred skin, and tired muscles. Holiness does not arrive when the body meets a cultural standard; holiness is already there because the Spirit is already there.
    To “glorify God in your body” is not to punish the body into submission, but to honor the gift of embodied life. It is to live, enjoy, and steward the life God has placed in you. Life is fragile, and strength is not something we manufacture by sheer force of will; it is something that emerges as we collaborate with the God who indwells us. In an open and relational way of seeing the world, the Spirit is constantly luring us toward possibilities that nurture rather than destroy our bodies—rest instead of endless overwork, healing instead of denial, nourishment instead of neglect, gentle movement instead of stagnation, treatment instead of pretending we are fine. These are not commands barked from the outside; they are invitations rising from within, where the Spirit breathes. A prophetic word needs to be spoken here: any theology that turns this passage into a weapon of shame—especially against people whose bodies do not fit narrow ideals—is a distortion. The temple is already holy because God is there. The call is not to become perfect, but to participate with the Spirit in caring for what God already loves.
    Trust in the Lord: When Wisdom Touches the Body (Proverbs 3:5–8)
    Proverbs tells us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight…It will be a healing for your flesh and a refreshment for your body.” These words draw a direct line between the state of the soul and the experience of the body—not in a simplistic “if you trust enough, you’ll never be sick” way, but in the honest recognition that how we carry our lives before God shows up in our flesh. When we live as if everything depends on us—our control, our frantic planning, our constant worry—our bodies absorb that story. Jaws clench, shoulders rise, hearts race, sleep disappears, and our systems live in a permanent state of alarm. When we begin to trust that God is lovingly at work with and for us, that we are not alone, that we are not the saviors of the world, something can shift in how we inhabit our bodies.
    “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil,” the proverb continues. In this context, turning away from evil can include turning away from patterns that quietly destroy our bodies: the idol of overwork that says “I am only as valuable as what I produce,” the stubborn pride that refuses medical help, the numbing habits that dull our pain but never heal it, the internal voice that speaks contempt and disgust toward our own flesh. To trust the Lord with all the heart is to loosen our grip on control and to open ourselves to wise guidance. In an open and relational understanding of God, that guidance does not come as coercion but as a steady stream of possibilities and nudges: make that doctor’s appointment, take the medication your body needs, go to therapy and speak the truth, go to bed when you know you are exhausted, feed your body something nourishing, step outside and breathe actual air, ask a friend for help. These are not trivial matters; they are small acts of repentance away from self-destruction and toward the healing and refreshment the proverb describes. A prophetic challenge here is that a church which preaches trust in God but rewards constant exhaustion, overcommitment, and self-neglect is out of step with this wisdom. Our life together should be a place where bodies are allowed to rest, heal, and be honored.
    Health for the Sake of Love (3 John 1:2–4)
    In 3 John we hear a simple, tender prayer: “I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.” The early church is not embarrassed to pray for bodily well-being. There is no split between spiritual life and physical life; the writer holds them together and rejoices that the recipients are “walking in the truth.” That walking is an embodied image. To walk in the truth is to move through the world in ways that align with God’s reality—step by step, day by day, in flesh and blood. There is nothing unspiritual about wanting someone’s body to be well. In fact, it is part of love.
    Caring for the body is not selfish; it is part of preparing ourselves to love others. The body is how we show up in the world. It is how we listen, serve, work, embrace, and participate in God’s kingdom coming “on earth as it is in heaven.” When you sleep, you are not retreating from responsibility; you are allowing God to renew you so that you can show up tomorrow with more patience and clarity. When you see a doctor or take medication, you are not failing spiritually; you are honoring the finite, interdependent way God created human beings, who need one another’s knowledge and care. When you practice Sabbath, you are not falling behind; you are trusting that God is God and you are not. Chronic self-neglect, on the other hand, becomes a kind of spiritual falsehood. It pretends that you are limitless, that you can pour out without ever being refilled, that your body is expendable so long as you are “useful.” But God has never asked you to burn yourself out to prove your devotion. A prophetic word to the church is this: ministries built on exhausted bodies and ignored souls are not signs of faithfulness; they are warnings that we are walking out of truth. To walk in the truth is to tell the truth about our limits and to let God’s love meet us there.
    Not Purity, but Participation
    At this point, it is crucial to say clearly what this sermon is not. These scriptures are not a purity clause. They are not measuring your holiness by the flatness of your stomach, the speed of your pace, or the tightness of your spiritual discipline. God is not tallying calories, counting your workouts, or ranking your worth by the outward state of your health. Some bodies carry chronic pain, disability, mental illness, or diagnoses that will not go away this side of resurrection. These realities are not spiritual failures; they are places where God’s presence is often most tender and fierce.
    The question these texts raise is not, “How can I impress God with my body?” but “How can I participate with God, in my body, in the life that is here?” This is about understanding how important the gift of physical life is and how that gift can be used to nurture a flourishing inner faith and the well-being of others. It is about putting life into action—letting the kingdom of God be lived, not just believed. It is about co-creating with the present possibilities the Spirit brings: the possibility of a nap that prevents a harsh word, the possibility of a boundary that preserves your health, the possibility of a meal shared that nourishes both body and relationship. The good news is that God does not wait for a future, upgraded version of you; God works with the body you have today. The prophetic invitation is to stop despising that body and start listening for what the Spirit is asking you to do with it.
    Invitations for the Week
    To move from vague inspiration to embodied practice, consider what it might mean to refresh your body this week in small, concrete ways. This is not about dramatic resolutions; it is about cooperative steps with the Spirit. Perhaps for you, refreshing your body begins with rest. You may recognize that your body is sending alarm signals—through headaches, fatigue, irritability—and you sense God inviting you to honor those signals instead of overriding them. Going to bed at a reasonable time, closing the laptop, stepping away from one more episode or one more task is not laziness; it is reverence for the temple God has made you to be. In that act, you say with your body, “I am not infinite, and that is very good.”
    Refreshing your body might also mean finally listening to what it has been trying to tell you for a long time. Maybe a pain keeps resurfacing, or a symptom keeps reappearing, and you have pushed it aside out of fear, cost, or denial. Opening yourself to God’s guidance here may look like making that call to the doctor, scheduling that examination, seeking therapy, or confiding in someone you trust. It is a courageous act of faith to admit, “I need help,” and to believe that God can work through physicians, counselors, medication, and community to bring healing or stability. In this cooperation, you are not abandoning faith; you are walking in truth.
    For some, the Spirit’s invitation might be to shift the way you speak to and about your body. Instead of treating your body as your enemy, you are invited to practice gratitude. This might look like a simple pause each day to thank God for one small aspect of your embodied life: eyes that see, hands that work, a heart that keeps beating, lungs that pull in air. Even if something does not work perfectly, you can acknowledge the miracle that you exist at all. Over time, this posture can soften the harsh internal judgments that our culture has taught us to aim at ourselves. It is a quiet but revolutionary act to bless your own body in a world that profits from your self-hatred.
    Others may need to hear a very specific prophetic challenge: your schedule and habits are slowly breaking your body, and God is calling you to repentance for the sake of your life and the lives of others. Saying yes to everything, never resting, never allowing others to help, ignoring every limit—these are not marks of holiness but signs that you are living as if you are God. To refresh your body, you might need to say no to one more assignment, one more committee, one more shift, one more request that you truly cannot carry. Setting a boundary is not selfish; it is an act of stewardship over the life God has entrusted to you and an act of trust that God can sustain the world without you playing savior. This is how care for the body becomes care for the community—because a rested, truthful, present self can love others more deeply and sustainably than a burned-out shell ever could.
    In all of this, the point is not to check boxes or achieve a spiritual fitness plan. The point is to recognize that your body is woven into your faith and your relationships. As you refresh your body—through rest, wisdom, gratitude, and boundaries—you are cooperating with the Holy Spirit to nourish your inner life and to increase your capacity to love. This is part of how God’s will is done “on earth as it is in heaven”: not in some abstract realm, but in your actual muscles and bones, your actual heartbeat and breath, your actual choices this week. Amen.
Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church
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(740) 869-3577
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