God Speaks
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Click here to download the sermon manuscript.
Scripture:
Psalm 25:4 – 5
Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Read more…
Psalm 131:1-2
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
The 1999 movie “Dogma” is a satirical imagining of what happens when we take our religious doctrine to its extremes. It’s highly irreverent with some horrendous language and violence in the mix. That being said, it also speaks some profound theological truths that evidence a writer with a deeply intimate connection to Christianity. For instance, there’s a scene in which one of the lead characters, Bethany, is speaking to God’s messenger, Metatron, who acts as the voice of God in the movie. Bethany asks Metatron why God doesn’t speak for himself. This is Metatron’s answer: Human beings have neither the aural nor the psychological capacity to withstand the awesome power of God’s true voice. Were you to hear it, your mind would cave in and your heart would explode within your chest.
This is the holy God. The God who had to be hidden in the deepest recesses of the Temple, behind a curtain, only to be accessed once a year and then only by one priest who had endured every cleansing ritual with precision. Sometimes we who are steeped in the images of an accessible, Father God who welcomes his children with open arms, forget that God is also holy. We forget that when God met with Moses on the mountain to give his people his commandments, everyone else was warned not even to touch the mountain because to do so when God was there would mean their death.
This is the God we approach in prayer. This is the God we dare speak to about every mundane detail, every worry and fear, every joy and celebration of life. We come as beloved children to a parent who loves us beyond measure. But this parent is also the holy, terrifying, awesome God who speaks and mountains crumble, who breathes and hurricanes rage, who roars and the people tremble.
This is the God who not only invites our approach, but who seeks us out and longs to tell us things about himself, about us, about our world. What hubris is it that makes us think God will speak to you or to me? Not hubris at all. He doesn’t speak because of anything about us except that he loves us and wants to be known by us.
This is the God to whom we not only speak, but to whom we also listen. This is the God who has made himself accessible; who has invited us to be still, to listen, to hear all the wonderful things he has to say.
On Sunday we’re going to keep talking about prayer. This week, instead of focusing on what we say, we’re going to focus on hearing what God has to say.
As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps reflect on your experiences this past week, setting time aside daily to practice praying. What worked? What didn’t work? Maybe you forgot all about trying this out this week. If so, maybe start practicing this discipline of daily prayer with the days that are left in this week, as a way of preparing for this Sunday. Maybe you don’t want to practice this discipline of daily prayer. If that’s the case, then I encourage you to keep (or start) reciting those words from Psalm 42 that we were encouraged to recite a couple weeks ago: As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
May God grant you the psalmist’s longing to know him. May you be given eyes to see and ears to hear. May you know what it is to be loved by God.