Matthew 13: 10-17 "Listening Hearts"

I want us to take a moment and close our eyes and just listen to the sounds around us on this beautiful summer day?
What do you hear?

Possibly the sound of nature outside: the birds ,
the gentle breeze?
The movement of paper?
The quiet?
The humming of the air conditioning?
The breath of the person next to you?

Our human ears hear many sounds in the language of everyday events, like the ones we hear today.

 nature and creation
 movement
 the gift of life
 the peace in quiet and stillness

There is a deeper kind of listening that results in spiritual understanding. This is listening with our hearts.

This is what Jesus was talking about in today’s gospel, listening with our hearts  
to the word of God. The Spirit of God lives in each of us and this living spirit blesses us with a spiritual connection to understand the parables and the teachings of Jesus. Jesus tells us:

      “ to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.”

“To you it has been given” is a big deal. This is a gift that Jesus freely gave to his disciples and to us.

Jesus was a great story teller. He was practical and he was smart.
Jesus uses parables in order to judge unbelief, as a fulfillment of the prophecy
of Isaiah, and to show forth the sheer grace of the gospel : To those who have some revelation, more revelation will be given.

 After many people began rejecting him as the Messaiah,
Jesus spoke in parables. He knew if he spoke directly he could have offended
 the leaders and been crucified almost immediately but by speaking in parables he could continue to instruct his followers who believed in his teachings , while at the same time  avoiding his opponents in parables, gave Jesus opportunities to illuminate the truth,
 not to hide it.

This is an important point . We need to remember that God is not trying to
make a relationship with Him  more difficult for us, he is not hiding from us . . .
He is present in all things  …in the good, the bad and the ugly.
He is here with us today.    

God is calling out to us to see if we can find him.  When we are open to the movement
 of the spirit,the message from God will become clear to us.

Jesus uses the ordinary in his parables ,

weeds

a Mustard seed

yeast

a hidden treasure

a pearl merchant

a fishing net

sheep and goats

a Samartian  

ordinary people and things revealing and doing extraordinary things.

Isn’t this what Jesus asks of us? To listen with our hearts to his word and let it

melt into every cell of our body, revealing what God intends it to, for each of us so

we too can live the gospel?
 

Sometimes it is hard to live the gospel when we may feel that God
 is far from us or we don’t understand what he is asking or doing
in our lives. It would be easier if God just gave us a straight answer instead
of what I call the gobbly gook…you know what I mean, the word and things
he asks of us that  sometimes challenge us, stretch us w-a-y out of our comfort zone  and confuse us.

Maybe things in your life have you confused right now.

Maybe you wonder if He cares, or if He even exists.

Jesus wants to help you find the truth/his love and promise through the
Word of God. He wants you to know that He loves you.

Does this mean life won't sometimes be confusing, frustrating and hard?  Not at all.

There are circumstances in life that challenge us and break our hearts.

the death of people we love

the breakup of relationships

a friend who hurts us

a child who doesn’t visit us as much as we would like
unexpected expenses that come like a tidal wave into our lives

illnesses and limitations that allow someone to exist but not to enjoy life

These things can baffle us, challenge us and break our hearts.  It is not that God

doesn't want us to understand, He does want us to understand . . . sometimes we

are unable to understand. We are unable to see the "big picture". We can't

comprehend what God is doing.

It is during these times that we must cling to God's track record, His character, and

His actions toward us in Christ, so he can work in our lives.  We must trust what

we do know and understand.   In that, in our faithful, loving, listening hearts God

will reveal more of his plan for our lives to us.

These words of  Mattthew’s gospel today also serve as a warning .  

It is possible to hear the truth, to listen to God’s Word , to hear God calling to us and yet ignore it.

It is possible to be surrounded with evidence yet refuse to acknowledge that evidence.  

It is possible to hear about the gospel all our lives and still not trust Christ.  

but when we embrace what Jesus tells us in today’s lesson:

 

“ to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.”

we truly are open to this spiritual connection with deep listening hearts and

we learn to trust rather than worry

we learn to forgive rather than resent

we learn to give rather than accumulate
we learn to serve rather than demand
we learn to laugh rather than grumble
we learn to love

If we keep listening with our hearts and seek to follow where He leads us, if we

keep seeking to understand what He tells us, we will see Jesus more clearly .

“Blesssed are your eyes, for they see and blessed are your ears, for they hear”

Amen.
 

         

Pentecost

Breathe.
Breathe in the breath of God.
Breathe in the breath of God and exhale peace.
Breathe in the breath of God and exhale love.
Breathe.

Scriptures tells us over and over how God breathes with us and through us. Genesis and the creation story tells us how God formed us and then breathed life into us. Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones that come to life with new flesh and with the spirit that is breathed into them. The disciples in the upper room  were filled with  the Holy Spirit breathing upon them.

I love the story of Pentecost.

I love the reality of Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit , the breath and fire of life within us, among us and through us. We celebate this day, the birthday of the church, as a reminder of our responsibility and commissoin to go out in the world.  We no longer are  followers but leaders to preach and live the gospel in all that we do.

The Holy Spirit doesn't sit still.

The Holy Spirit is always moving and shaking things up... adding new life and new understanding to the depth of  our souls. God calls us to love. God calls us out of our comfort zone. God calls us to something new. God calls us to live with out fear.  God calls to dream his dream for us, for our communities and for the world.

That energy, that love and  that passion that lights up you soul is the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
Can you feel it?

The following quote from SSJE explains it so well.

Blessed Pentecost!

Open yourself to the gift of the Spirit, whose power will enable you to live your baptismal vows with integrity and truth. Be agents of God’s love in the world, channels of God’s peace, bearers of God’s compassion to all you meet.

Dear John

Dear John,

Today we celebrate your birthday.

I celebrate you.
   You - my friend
   You - my husband
   You - my lover.
   You - the father of our children
   You - the fixer of all things
   You - the chef
   You - the practical ying in my sometimes not so practical yang
   You - my wine tasting bud
   You - my backyard sunset gazing companion
   You - who holds my heart

Across our vowed threshold lies a life that we have created together.
A life that is spacious and free to explore our individual  journey and our journey together. A life where we can challenge our choices, embrace them and love each other through them. This vowed threshold draws us deeper into our life together even if it unearths us, unmakes us, lays us bare, and creates us again...renewing and celebrating our life together until  eternity.

I thank God on this day for creating you and birthing the possibilities of your tomorrows.

Happy Birthday!
Love,
Maureen

March Liturgical Madness

        I often refer to Holy Week as "March Liturgical Madness".  I work at a church so my humor is justified and helps with what can be exhausting and sometimes frustrating preparation: deadlines not being met, printer jamming, internet crashing, preparing service bulletins with different music and readings, changes and there is always little drama too! Yet, it is a labor of love. Ask anyone who works at a chruch, they will say the same thing.

      Anyway, our March Madness bracket begins well before the start of Holy Week with preliminary prep beginning on Ash Wednesday extending through Lent. We read the stories. We hear the lessons. We worship. We serve.  We reflect. Lent is a time to work on our spiritual muscles.

     The Lenten journey is a time of spiritual growth and if we are lucky we move from one state of being to another, one point of view to another, or perhaps from one interpretation of life to another...one bracket to the next.  One can choose to sit on the side lines or one can choose to  participate. Participation is risky. You are wide open for things to happen. Your spirit is an open court . So, do you grab the ball and run with it? Or do you dance around with what is your truth only to get knocked down again because you weren't paying atention?

     Lent  is all about the journey.  We journey in Lent through Scripture that speaks to us, through songs that touch our despair or joy and lift us , through prayers that open coversation with God and/or rituals that bring comfort and understanding. Sometimes like Jesus we are in a wilderness all alone.  Sometimes we are in a wilderness within the crowd of our life. Either way we journey on.

     Then we arrive at Holy Week on Palm Sunday and it begins.  With trepedation we approach the final four: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday Tenebrae, Holy Saturday Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. We know how the story will end but we have to go through the aches and pains; the misery, the hearbreaks and the joys. There is no other way. There is no other way to take up the cross and follow Jesus. There is a Cinderella story here too.  Jesus is that player, the underdog to many, who advanced much further than anyone anticipated.

    ( The term Cinderella story was used by Bill Murry in the 1980 hit movie Caddyshack where he pretends as the announcer to his own golf fantasy: "Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greens keeper, now, about to become the Masters champion." )

     For Christians everywhere our Cinderella story is Jesus. Outta nowhere. A former carpenter, is our Saviour, our King, our champion!

     Slam dunk!