Experienced Listening and Speaking
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
October 15, 2023
Good morning, Friends and welcome to Light Reflections. This morning I am continuing my sermon series on the biblical prophets based on Howard Macy’s book, “Befriending the Prophets.” The scripture I have chosen this week is Amos 7:14-15 from the New Revised Standard Version.
Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”
Sue and I spent a few years among folks who used the term charismatic to describe themselves when we were just starting our family. That terminology was difficult to define, and I had a plethora of people who always wanted to define it for me. Interestingly, one of the definitions in the Merriam-Webster dictionary for charismatic (in the religious sense) is “one who is inspired by God.” Ironically, this is also how one often describes a prophet.
Looking back over my life and especially my 28 years in professional ministry, I have had a lot of people who were sure that they were inspired by God, or as we might say among Friends, “moved by the Spirit” to share some word or call to action. I too have felt this leading on occasion.
Some of the people who have spoken into my life have been spot on and others have been way off. Some I would say were prophetic in my life, and others not so much. Some people have shared words that were for a moment or time in my life and others became a wild goose chase or dead-end street – or they seemed so preposterous that in my heart I knew there was something wrong.
Sue and I had a person once give us a word from God in a time of prayer. She said that while she was praying, she saw “French Doors.” She did not know what it meant, but that when we saw the “French Doors” we would know we were in the right place. We have lived in quite a few places since that time, and we have never owned a house with “French Doors.” Does that mean we are not in the right place? Should we look for a house with French Doors?
Sue and I have also had fellow pastors and their spouses tell us that God told them we were following the devil because we were leaving their church and ministry to pursue a new ministry. Was that the case, or did they just want to make us feel bad for leaving?
Even my best man at our wedding said God told him that I was entering a slippery slope when I decided to head back to get my master’s degree at a school that was not a part of our denomination. He even said that I was bound to lose my faith if I went there and would probably no longer be his friend. Since that day, I can count the times I have heard from him on one hand.
I was even told by a person in my last Quaker Meeting that God told them I needed to be saved – that person even tried to lay hands on me and pray for my salvation during waiting worship and it was shut down by the others gathered that morning.
Or there was that time, I was caught unaware by a complete stranger at a coffee house in Silverton, Oregon.
Upon entering, I grabbed a cup of coffee and proceeded to set up my computer and get out a couple books that I wanted to work through on this early morning. And then, out of the blue, the man sitting next to me asked about the book I was reading and proceeded to question if it taught people about “Alternative Lifestyles.”
“What? I thought that was a kind of odd thing to ask. What a weird turn of events and an unusual question. I was even more taken aback since the book had nothing to do with that topic. I stood there, kind of holding the book and saying, “This one?” I tried to laugh it off, and move on, but the person became persistent and began to raise his voice.
He then dropped a word he said he had received from God for me. He looked me in the eye and not knowing me from Adam said, “God has shown me that you and your church are an abomination to this community.”
Wow, now there is a loaded theological word. I asked him if he knew what that word meant. I had been called a heretic, a follower of the devil, even unbiblical, but not an abomination. Once I realized I was not going to get anywhere with this guy, who continued to preach at me what he called the “word of God,” I decided to gather my stuff, ask for my coffee to go, and head back to my office. He followed me out the door in the utter shock of the coffee house manager and customers.
Later, I would find that he was meeting with a group of men for a study at the same coffee shop on Fridays, my day off. A man from my meeting who was struggling with the same-sex debate was a part of this group and decided to share his anger and assumed it was my teaching that had brought this division in our Meeting and Yearly Meeting. I found out later, that the man that engaged me was sent by this group to let me know I was going to ruin the community of Silverton -- because clearly, I and my church was an abomination to God for loving ALL people.
This God of Love that I believed in, the one that the prophets believed embodied kindness, justice, righteousness, and truth, I was pretty sure, was not the God who had sent this message through this angry man.
Actually, when I think about it, the strongest messages from God that I have received were ones that did not have someone start with the words, “God has given me a word for you…”.
And most of the ones that have panned out and have been legit have come through people who have invested in me, who have known me, and who were part of my context and community.
Last week I met someone for coffee who wanted to talk about Quakerism, and in our conversation, he mentioned that he often heard from God. At one point he stopped and clarified saying, “But I would not say that it was God or Jesus speaking to me to just anyone.” He felt safe with me as a pastor, but for most people, he said he would not explain his leading in this way, because it might turn someone off or not allow them to hear what God was doing through him.
Just think about Jesus, after speaking in his own hometown, he is run out by his own neighbors, family, and friends. Why did they get so upset, because a prophet lives within and with a community and is able to speak to their condition.
In the south they have a phrase when a preacher does just this. They say, “He stopped preaching and went to meddlin’”. He could push their buttons. When you know people intimately, it is much easier to get to the core issues, address the problems, or also see the opportunities and callings.
Some churches catch on to this and begin to say, “I think the pastor has run his/her course at our church. He/she might want to move on or consider retiring.” And that might be true, or it might be that the pastor has begun speaking more directly to their condition.
Some say today with our mega-churches and entertainment-based ministries we are creating live entertainment worship venues that have no depth, meaning, or real community. As one of my neighbors said who attends the mega-church right behind my neighborhood, “I like to slip in, listen to the music, hear a good word from the pastor, and get out before the traffic jam – oh, and it’s great I don’t even have to talk to anyone.” This is exactly why churches like this have seen lower attendance since Covid. Since it is mainly entertainment value, anyway, why not stay home in your pajamas and watch it on your couch.
Folks, this is what is different for us at First Friends. We value community – it is one of our testimonies and S.P.I.C.E.S, it is important for us to gather together, to listen to each other, to laugh, cry, experience life together, share responsibility and accountability, let our kids play with each other, and hear what God is speaking to our condition as a community.
Something that Howard Macy points out in “Befriending the Prophets” is that the prophets were experienced listeners. Not only did they seek to know what God desired and delighted in, but they waited expectantly and listened intently for what was of God. And they did this within the community in which they lived.
This is why I chose the scripture reading from Amos this morning. It shows that Amos was just a member of the community – he was a herdsman and dresser of sycamore trees. But the Lord told him to go prophesy to his own faith community. He was part of the community or family of Israel.
This is very much the model for us here at First Friends – we too are a community or family of faith. And this is what we do when we gather in waiting or unprogrammed worship. We silence and center ourselves, entering a time of waiting worship, to intentionally listen to what God is speaking to our condition.
That is why every Meeting for Worship at First Friends has a good amount of waiting worship or is completely unprogrammed. And during this time, we listen to our Inner Christ and that of God in our neighbors, that is if they decide to share in a vocal ministry. And then we test or act upon what is being said within our community.
What comes forth out of these times of expectant waiting should be things that delight the Lord – things that are kind, seeking justice for ALL people, righteous or moral in nature, and grounded in truth. And when they do, great things happen, bonds are formed, action is taken, community is built, and our world is changed.
So, when we come together, and a person among us senses the “quaking” bubbling up from within them. Our role is to be like the prophets and be experienced listeners.
Sometimes people are nervous when sharing and even have a hard time sharing, or they share in an awkward way, or in a tone or from a perspective we may find confusing or just don’t like.
Again, we must become experienced listeners. It may not be clear at the moment. We may even question this is the word of God for us all. We may even be quick to say, “Well, that is just that person’s agenda or soapbox.” But if we are not listening, we may miss the message.
Howard makes a clarification that I feel is very important about what the “word” means in the phrase, the “word of God.” He says,
The Hebrew word dabar is very ordinary and is typically used to mean “word, thing, affair, something,” subject to its particular context. So, we might rightly think of the phrase “word of God” in a particular oracle as referring to the content, the message, the expression of what God is doing. But we need not read it “words of God” in the narrow sense that each word is spoken exactly by God, which leads mistakenly to seeing this process as dictation. Some find comfort in the narrower reading, but most interpreters recognize that various prophetic writers/speakers had different literary styles, vocabulary, and more. That is, they reveal individuality and craft.
I think that is what we see within our community of faith at First Friends. People are not simply getting up and saying, “I have a word from the Lord for you.” But they may be helping us get a better picture of it through their own perspectives and life experiences.
And as we listen, instead of writing off people or discounting them because of what we may know about them, we should be listening intently to what the Spirit has moved in them to say.
Howard goes on to explain this further by explaining the phrase, “mystery of collaboration.” He says,
God is involved guiding a message (perhaps you prefer “inspiring a message”) and the writer [speaker] is listening and crafting that message. It might flow, it might resist, it might come in bits or all at once. And in the process, there may well be moments when the writer [speaker] wonders, where did that word/phrase/image/tune come from? Yet in the attention and struggle along with the surprises of it, a message to share comes clear.
Folks, we are human vessels of this “word of God” within our context and community – just like the prophets we read of in the Bible. And that means we have a two-fold calling as Friends in this community. We must become experienced listeners to both that of God in us and in our neighbor, and also be willing to speak up or act upon that word for the sake of our community.
I don’t know how many times, people tell me after worship, “I really felt led to speak out of the silence, today, but I didn’t?”
· What if what they were going to say would be a prophetic word to this community – and we missed that opportunity?
· What if what they were going to say would give us a greater vision of what God is doing or could be doing in our midst?
· What if what they were going to say would spark the call or change the course of someone else’ life?
I could go on, but I think you get the gist of what I am saying. So today, as we enter waiting worship, I want us to really listen both to that of God within us, and if someone speaks out of the silence, to that of God in them. And remember if you feel you are being led by the Spirit to share a word of God – consider the community in which you are sharing it. Don’t be like those people who just want to throw their judgements or God words around, but rather share it so we can be challenged and drawn into a better relationship with that of God within us and our fellow Friends. Ask yourself this morning:
· How might I become a more experienced listener in my community?
· Have I ever felt I had a “word of God,” but I did not share it? Why?