What Do The Voices Say?
Stories
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
Series V, Cycle C
Object:
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." (vv. 21-22)
You may remember the short-lived television show a few years ago, Joan Of Arcadia, about a teenager who receives messages from God. It was a modern translation of the life of Joan of Arc. In the television show, God would appear to her in various forms to deliver messages. Sometimes God would be the school custodian, other times a little girl, and other times God would be a shopper in the bookstore where Joan worked.
Long before Joan Of Arcadia, George Bernard Shaw wrote a play about the original Joan, in which she received the messages in a different way. An interrogator inquired about Joan's conversations with God. He asked, "How do you mean, 'voices'?"
She responded, "I hear voices telling me what to do. They come from God."
"The voices come from your imagination," her questioner insisted.
To this Joan replied, "Of course, that is how the message of God comes to me."
When God speaks, it is important that we pay attention. Like when God spoke in Luke 3 when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. While Jesus was praying "the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.' "
Scripture tells of very few times that people audibly heard the voice of God. But each instance is consistent with this scripture: God spoke words of acceptance, affection, and direction. If we hear God's voice, it will be consistent with the voice of Jesus. God's requests will echo the teachings of Christ.
And we should hear God's voice. It has been said, "If God spoke in the Bible, he speaks now. And if he speaks now, he spoke then." In other words, God didn't stop talking after biblical times. We should hear God's voice, but we must be discerning when listening for it.
God may speak to us through an audible voice as on Joan Of Arcadia. But God may also speak to us more like Joan of Arc -- through our imagination, through our reasoning processes, through our times of meditation, study, and worship. In those quiet times God speaks a word of hope, a word of encouragement, and even a word of challenge. Many of you have heard God's voice in this way. Not audibly, but in the quietness of your own heart.
Would you like to hear God's voice today? God does speak -- not often in a dramatic voice that is audible to others, but usually through the quietness of our own hearts or through the voices of other people. No matter the method, we can better hear the voice of God the closer we are to God.
You may remember the short-lived television show a few years ago, Joan Of Arcadia, about a teenager who receives messages from God. It was a modern translation of the life of Joan of Arc. In the television show, God would appear to her in various forms to deliver messages. Sometimes God would be the school custodian, other times a little girl, and other times God would be a shopper in the bookstore where Joan worked.
Long before Joan Of Arcadia, George Bernard Shaw wrote a play about the original Joan, in which she received the messages in a different way. An interrogator inquired about Joan's conversations with God. He asked, "How do you mean, 'voices'?"
She responded, "I hear voices telling me what to do. They come from God."
"The voices come from your imagination," her questioner insisted.
To this Joan replied, "Of course, that is how the message of God comes to me."
When God speaks, it is important that we pay attention. Like when God spoke in Luke 3 when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. While Jesus was praying "the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.' "
Scripture tells of very few times that people audibly heard the voice of God. But each instance is consistent with this scripture: God spoke words of acceptance, affection, and direction. If we hear God's voice, it will be consistent with the voice of Jesus. God's requests will echo the teachings of Christ.
And we should hear God's voice. It has been said, "If God spoke in the Bible, he speaks now. And if he speaks now, he spoke then." In other words, God didn't stop talking after biblical times. We should hear God's voice, but we must be discerning when listening for it.
God may speak to us through an audible voice as on Joan Of Arcadia. But God may also speak to us more like Joan of Arc -- through our imagination, through our reasoning processes, through our times of meditation, study, and worship. In those quiet times God speaks a word of hope, a word of encouragement, and even a word of challenge. Many of you have heard God's voice in this way. Not audibly, but in the quietness of your own heart.
Would you like to hear God's voice today? God does speak -- not often in a dramatic voice that is audible to others, but usually through the quietness of our own hearts or through the voices of other people. No matter the method, we can better hear the voice of God the closer we are to God.
