Listen

Two years ago, when I was house hunting, I put an offer on the very first house I saw.  The offer was accepted, but after inspections, I decided to pass on the house.

Several houses later, I found another house I liked.  I put an offer on that house but was outbid.

Strike two.

I took a deep breath and began the search again.  But this time, I did something I should have done from the beginning.  I prayed.  I asked God to help me with my search and to direct me to the right house.

And so, when my realtor and I pulled up to this one particular house—almost a last chance house—one of the first things I noticed was that there was a church across the street and a sign on the front that said, “House of God.”

And I said to myself—well there you go.  It’s a literal sign from God.

Oh, we human beings love our free will, but we always look for help when it comes to making decisions.  Ideally, we would look for help from God, but often we turn to other sources, something as simple as checking in with our friends and family and getting their opinions, sometimes something as silly as taking out the good ole’ Magic Eight Ball.

But the key to discernment truly lies in honest prayer.  It means taking a good deep breath, exhaling long and slow, and then turning inward in prayer, beginning by asking yourself this question.

“Is God speaking to me?”

Or maybe this question.

“How is God speaking to me?”

Followed by the obvious.

“What is God trying to tell me?”

Today’s two readings from Exodus and Matthew show two very contrasting ways that God speaks to people.  In Exodus 19:16-25, God descends on Mount Sinai in a dark, smoky, fiery cloud.  There is an earthquake.  The ground shakes.  Moses speaks to God and God answers Moses with thunder.  God calls Moses to the mountain peak and warns him that if anyone else should make that climb, if anyone else should try and break through the cloud to get a look at God for themselves—they will die.

Contrast that to our reading from Matthew 3:13-17 which tells the story of Jesus’ baptism.  The Spirit of God descends not as a fiery cloud, not in thunder, but in the form of a dove.  And when God speaks, it is not just to one person, an intermediary like Moses but to everyone with ears as He declares, “This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

How things change!  Right?

Maybe not as much as you think.

Because God speaks to a lot of people in the Old Testament in a variety of different ways.  He speaks to Moses first in a burning bush.  He speaks to Hagar in the wilderness twice.  He speaks to Elijah as that still, small voice.  He calls out to Samuel while Samuel is sleeping.  He even speaks to Balaam through Balaam’s donkey who is literally given a voice.  God appears to the prophets like Ezekiel through visions.  Sometimes God’s voice is silent, but His actions speak louder than words—so to speak—like when Jonah is swallowed by a giant fish after refusing to obey God’s word and go to Ninevah.

And when God speaks to these people it is for reasons like “calling.” He wants to lead people to their vocation—people like Moses and Samuel.  He speaks to Hagar and Balaam to set them back on the right path—He effectively keeps them alive, when they would otherwise die.  He speaks to comfort like He does when Elijah is deep in a depression after being on the run from Jezebel who wants to kill him.  And He sends Jonah a powerful message, putting Jonah in “time-out” until Jonah realizes he must do what God has commanded him in order that the Ninevites might have one more chance to repent.  Otherwise, a whole civilization might die.

And when God speaks at Jesus’ baptism, it is for very similar reasons.  God’s words that Jesus is His son, the appearance of the Spirit of God as a dove, all send an earthshaking message.  It’s a message of peace, renewal, and promise.  God has called His son for a very specific role and in that role, Jesus will save the human race. 

So you see, God has always been speaking to us.

Always. 

I remember when I was going through the discernment process for becoming a priest, someone else who had already been through the process warned me to never say that God speaks to me.

And I know what she meant, but it was funny, because, like I said, God speaks to all of us.

He speaks to us in prayer.

He speaks to us in signs.

He speaks to us in dreams.

He will speak to us in whatever way we are most likely to hear Him.

Again, though, the key is discernment.  Is that God speaking or is it my anxious soul beaten down by a very loud world?

How do we pick out God’s voice, how do we identify His voice in the chaotic cacophony that assaults our ears every day with social media and phone alerts and a 24/7 news cycle that seems to warn us every five minutes that the world is about to end?

It begins with prayer.

Honest prayer.

And honest prayer begins with this—taking a breath, living in that breath and then breathing out, exhaling, returning that breath over and over.  Our breath is our offering because the Breath of God, the Spirit of God lives within each of us.  And so we breathe in and out remembering that His light and love flow within us.

And then we listen.

Amen.