WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 We have just heard a story that I suspect for 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:05.000 many, especially those who are not part of a 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:08.339 faith tradition before, would be a little bit 00:00:08.339 --> 00:00:10.800 new or fresh. This story, the Transfiguration, 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:12.980 it's one of the stranger stories in Scripture. 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:15.419 We're going to turn to a different story that's 00:00:15.419 --> 00:00:17.519 sort of on the opposite end of that spectrum. 00:00:18.269 --> 00:00:21.850 My guess is that if I randomly stopped 100 people 00:00:21.850 --> 00:00:25.309 out on the street, regardless of their own tradition, 00:00:25.410 --> 00:00:27.170 whether they've ever been to church before or 00:00:27.170 --> 00:00:29.570 not, and I asked them to name one Bible story, 00:00:29.809 --> 00:00:33.170 I'm willing to bet that easily in the top five 00:00:33.170 --> 00:00:36.829 stories that would be named, maybe the top story 00:00:36.829 --> 00:00:40.850 that would be named is this story. From the book 00:00:40.850 --> 00:00:43.570 of Exodus, the third chapter, it is the story 00:00:43.570 --> 00:00:47.520 of the call of Moses. The call of Moses out of 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:50.000 the burning bush. So friends, let us continue 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:52.060 listening now for a word from God as we hear 00:00:52.060 --> 00:00:54.539 these verses, Exodus chapter three, beginning 00:00:54.539 --> 00:00:59.039 with the first verse. Moses was keeping the flock 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:01.439 of his father -in -law Jethro, the priest of 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:04.299 Midian. He led his flock beyond the wilderness 00:01:04.299 --> 00:01:07.599 and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And there 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:09.920 the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:12.200 of fire out of a bush. And he looked and the 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:16.579 bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then 00:01:16.579 --> 00:01:19.900 Moses said, I must turn aside and look at this 00:01:19.900 --> 00:01:22.840 great sight and see why the bush is not burned 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:25.959 up. When the Lord saw that he had turned aside 00:01:25.959 --> 00:01:28.379 to see, God called to him out of the bush saying, 00:01:28.500 --> 00:01:33.400 Moses, Moses. And Moses said, Here I am. Then 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:36.540 he said, Come no closer. Remove the sandals from 00:01:36.540 --> 00:01:38.760 your feet for the place on which you are standing 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:41.980 is holy ground. And God said further, I am the 00:01:41.980 --> 00:01:44.000 God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.819 of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid 00:01:46.819 --> 00:01:50.760 his face for he was afraid to look at God. Then 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:52.939 the Lord said, I've observed the misery of my 00:01:52.939 --> 00:01:55.599 people who are in Egypt. I've heard their cry 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:58.359 on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know 00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:01.040 their sufferings and I have. come down to deliver 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:03.319 them from the Egyptians and to bring them up 00:02:03.319 --> 00:02:06.280 out of the land to a good and broad land, a land 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:09.419 flowing with milk and honey to the country of 00:02:09.419 --> 00:02:12.060 the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:14.379 and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 00:02:15.500 --> 00:02:18.060 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me. 00:02:18.580 --> 00:02:20.860 I have also seen how the Egyptians oppressed 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:24.020 them, so come, Moses, and I will send you to 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:26.319 Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:30.039 of Egypt. But Moses said to God, who am I that 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:32.479 I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:35.960 out of Egypt? And God said, I will be with you. 00:02:36.199 --> 00:02:38.719 And this shall be the sign for you that it is 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:41.800 I who sent you. When you have brought the people 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:45.419 out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain. 00:02:46.740 --> 00:02:48.580 Friends, this too is the word of God for the 00:02:48.580 --> 00:02:52.319 people of God. Thanks be to God. Will you pray 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:57.539 with me? Gracious and loving God. draw near to 00:02:57.539 --> 00:03:02.539 us now, quiet, whatever it is that is filling 00:03:02.539 --> 00:03:06.199 our heads and hearts in this moment. Speak to 00:03:06.199 --> 00:03:10.319 us, O God, in the quiet, that we might hear afresh 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:14.080 and anew your word, your word for the living 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:17.219 of these days. We pray these things for we know 00:03:17.219 --> 00:03:18.840 that with you and you alone, O God, they are 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:22.199 possible for you and you alone are our rock and 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:31.300 our redeemer. Amen. I have a bad habit. I listen 00:03:31.300 --> 00:03:36.039 to music all the time. Craig's office is right 00:03:36.039 --> 00:03:38.259 next to mine, so he can probably attest to this, 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:40.879 that there is music playing in my office. Even 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:42.500 though I try and keep it quiet, I don't want 00:03:42.500 --> 00:03:44.719 to distract others, but there's music playing 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:47.379 basically any time I'm not visiting with someone. 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:50.860 At home in the kitchen, Alexa's always playing 00:03:50.860 --> 00:03:53.780 some playlist. Even when I'm going to sleep, 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:56.280 much to the chagrin of my wife, I am listening 00:03:56.280 --> 00:04:00.800 to music. Even as I wrote this sermon, what am 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:03.960 I doing? I'm listening to music. We have a group 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:06.099 of friends who we have done vacation with every 00:04:06.099 --> 00:04:08.360 summer for 12 or 13 years. These are two other 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:11.180 families who we met in seminary. And there's 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:14.000 a joke in that group that our vacation has not 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:16.939 truly started until Alan pulls out his Bluetooth 00:04:16.939 --> 00:04:20.420 speaker and begins whatever playlist he has concocted 00:04:20.420 --> 00:04:23.860 for that year. I remember the first time they 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:25.839 made that joke, though. It sort of stopped me 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:29.189 short. I hadn't really thought about how much 00:04:29.189 --> 00:04:32.129 I listened to music, how much I seemed to not 00:04:32.129 --> 00:04:36.110 like empty space. It stopped me short because 00:04:36.110 --> 00:04:38.509 it forced me to confront the fact that I am a 00:04:38.509 --> 00:04:41.810 little uncomfortable with quiet, I think. That 00:04:41.810 --> 00:04:45.069 maybe, just maybe, I listen to things so that 00:04:45.069 --> 00:04:50.290 I don't have to listen to things. Anyone else 00:04:50.290 --> 00:04:54.079 have this habit? Right? How many of us are guilty 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:57.300 of this? I recently read a piece on the art of 00:04:57.300 --> 00:04:59.699 listening. And one of the things it said was 00:04:59.699 --> 00:05:02.600 that most of us are good at hearing, but really 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:06.939 bad at listening. Right? Usually when we're in 00:05:06.939 --> 00:05:09.420 a conversation with someone, and I think we all 00:05:09.420 --> 00:05:11.319 know that you can tell when you're in a conversation 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:13.500 with someone like this, where you're talking 00:05:13.500 --> 00:05:15.079 to them, you're looking them in the eye, but 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:17.759 you can tell what's going on behind their eyes. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:20.139 They're plotting their next move. You're plotting 00:05:20.139 --> 00:05:22.079 your next move. What am I going to say as soon 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:24.620 as this story finishes? How am I going to defend 00:05:24.620 --> 00:05:26.740 this piece of whatever they're saying I don't 00:05:26.740 --> 00:05:29.279 agree with? We're always thinking about what 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:30.879 we're going to say, how we're going to say it, 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:32.939 maybe even how we're going to get ourselves out 00:05:32.939 --> 00:05:36.519 of whatever conversation we are in. The author 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:40.120 of this piece said that to truly listen, to truly 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:43.120 listen is to shed your protective mechanisms. 00:05:43.980 --> 00:05:47.579 Kind of like that. Whenever I'm in a conversation, 00:05:47.779 --> 00:05:50.600 there's a little piece of me that's ready to 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:53.740 be defensive if I need to. To truly listen, the 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:56.100 author of this piece said, you have to shed your 00:05:56.100 --> 00:06:00.120 protective mechanisms. You have to be present 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:02.779 with what you are hearing without necessarily 00:06:02.779 --> 00:06:06.910 trying to control it. or to figure it out. So 00:06:06.910 --> 00:06:09.009 Moses in the story that we've just read, Moses 00:06:09.009 --> 00:06:11.509 is one of the grand characters of all scripture, 00:06:11.689 --> 00:06:13.750 right? As evidenced in the fact that the passage 00:06:13.750 --> 00:06:16.829 Millie read for us from Mark, who is it that's 00:06:16.829 --> 00:06:18.990 up there on the mountain with Jesus? It's some 00:06:18.990 --> 00:06:21.149 dead people and Moses is one of them up there 00:06:21.149 --> 00:06:23.290 with him. He's that important. He's coming back 00:06:23.290 --> 00:06:26.810 all these years later. He's this just foundational 00:06:26.810 --> 00:06:30.029 character in the biblical narrative and he's 00:06:30.029 --> 00:06:33.579 a flawed character. Moses, like David and like 00:06:33.579 --> 00:06:35.939 so many others, he gets it wrong as much as he 00:06:35.939 --> 00:06:38.319 gets it right. That's a recurring theme. That's 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:41.019 where grace enters because we all get it wrong 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:44.879 as much as we get it right. But here, Moses has 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:48.439 kind of a shining moment. His call story at the 00:06:48.439 --> 00:06:50.579 beginning of Exodus chapter 3 is sort of this 00:06:50.579 --> 00:06:54.339 moment where Moses is really at his best. And 00:06:54.339 --> 00:06:56.500 one of the things that shines through most clearly 00:06:56.500 --> 00:06:59.740 for me in this story is that Moses here is a 00:06:59.740 --> 00:07:03.350 good listener. Let me explain what I mean by 00:07:03.350 --> 00:07:06.430 that. It's been 40 years. So you turn from chapter 00:07:06.430 --> 00:07:10.209 2 of Exodus to chapter 3, chapter 2, Moses flees 00:07:10.209 --> 00:07:13.009 Egypt. Remember, he's born in chapter 1. He grows 00:07:13.009 --> 00:07:15.370 up in Pharaoh's household against all odds. He 00:07:15.370 --> 00:07:18.550 kills an Egyptian. He flees Egypt. By all accounts, 00:07:18.709 --> 00:07:20.389 it's hard to really know the math, but in all 00:07:20.389 --> 00:07:23.899 likelihood, 40 years has passed. Since Moses 00:07:23.899 --> 00:07:25.779 fled Egypt. That's a long time. He's been in 00:07:25.779 --> 00:07:29.259 Midian, this rural area, for 40 years. He has 00:07:29.259 --> 00:07:31.360 been tending to his father -in -law Jethro's 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:35.040 flock for a long time. He knows the area that 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:38.040 he is leading these sheep. He knows it like the 00:07:38.040 --> 00:07:40.899 back of his hand. Anyone here commute every day 00:07:40.899 --> 00:07:44.680 on I -85? Or maybe Pine Street or 29, right? 00:07:44.779 --> 00:07:48.199 If you have a terrain that you are familiar with, 00:07:48.379 --> 00:07:51.120 it's easy to just get into autopilot. Anyone 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:52.779 else ever had the experience where you're driving 00:07:52.779 --> 00:07:55.720 down 85 and then suddenly you just come to and 00:07:55.720 --> 00:07:57.839 you realize you're like 20 miles further and 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:00.319 you have no recollection of anything that happened 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:03.500 in the last 20 miles? You just slip into this 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:06.079 go with it because it's so familiar. You know 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:08.519 the milestones. You know the ups and downs. You 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:10.680 know when I get to the airport, I'm about this 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:13.259 far away from my destination or vice versa when 00:08:13.259 --> 00:08:17.860 you're coming home. That's Moses. He knows where 00:08:17.860 --> 00:08:20.120 he is. And even here where he's pushing beyond 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:22.800 the wilderness, that's the phrase that is used. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:25.199 He's beyond the wilderness, which when you are 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:27.420 a shepherd, sometimes you have to push beyond 00:08:27.420 --> 00:08:29.879 what is familiar to find those green pastures 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:32.740 and that water for your flock. Even out there, 00:08:32.860 --> 00:08:35.559 he is a good listener. And what I mean by that, 00:08:35.580 --> 00:08:38.639 even out there in that familiar terrain, he is 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:43.429 open. He's attentive. Right? He's aware. He's 00:08:43.429 --> 00:08:46.889 paying attention. He's noticing who and what 00:08:46.889 --> 00:08:50.509 is right in front of him. If you've ever spent 00:08:50.509 --> 00:08:53.350 time in the desert, there are a lot of dry bushes. 00:08:54.769 --> 00:08:57.289 You don't notice any of them because you notice 00:08:57.289 --> 00:09:01.269 all of them. But even out there amongst all those 00:09:01.269 --> 00:09:04.769 bushes, in that familiar terrain, that I -85 00:09:04.769 --> 00:09:07.990 of Moses' life, he notices the one thing that 00:09:07.990 --> 00:09:10.980 is different. That burning bush. And the way 00:09:10.980 --> 00:09:14.399 we know this is because he turns aside. Did you 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:16.460 catch that language? When I read that, it's been 00:09:16.460 --> 00:09:18.200 a while since I read this story, and when I read 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:20.779 it again this week, that turn aside language 00:09:20.779 --> 00:09:22.799 caught me a little off guard because when I heard 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:25.460 that, I thought Moses turned away from the bush. 00:09:25.779 --> 00:09:27.799 That's what I think when I think turn aside. 00:09:28.580 --> 00:09:30.840 He's avoiding it, a little bit like the disciples 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:33.820 do, in my estimation, in the transfiguration 00:09:33.820 --> 00:09:36.830 story. This amazing thing is happening. This 00:09:36.830 --> 00:09:39.230 otherworldly thing is happening. And they sort 00:09:39.230 --> 00:09:41.389 of turn away from it. They get busy. They set 00:09:41.389 --> 00:09:43.269 up their Bluetooth speaker and playlist and say, 00:09:43.309 --> 00:09:45.210 we better do something, guys. Let's build some 00:09:45.210 --> 00:09:48.850 dwellings for all these people. But instead, 00:09:48.970 --> 00:09:51.389 what we read here is that Moses turns aside. 00:09:51.429 --> 00:09:53.549 And when you read the passage, it says he turns 00:09:53.549 --> 00:09:57.210 aside in order to look closer. And sure enough, 00:09:57.269 --> 00:09:59.350 when I looked closer at the word that is translated, 00:09:59.509 --> 00:10:02.610 turn aside, it's this Hebrew word, sir. What 00:10:02.610 --> 00:10:06.029 it means is that you deviate from the path of. 00:10:06.309 --> 00:10:10.370 It means you step off towards something new. 00:10:10.450 --> 00:10:14.049 It's this movement of curiosity. It's this movement 00:10:14.049 --> 00:10:17.629 of paying attention, right? Moses is stepping 00:10:17.629 --> 00:10:20.850 off the familiar path in order to investigate 00:10:20.850 --> 00:10:24.490 this thing that is a little different that he 00:10:24.490 --> 00:10:27.590 has noticed in his surroundings. And then this 00:10:27.590 --> 00:10:30.289 other remarkable thing happens because it's not 00:10:30.289 --> 00:10:32.720 just Moses. who is listening. It's apparently 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:36.299 God who is listening as well. There's this phrase 00:10:36.299 --> 00:10:39.299 in the passage where it says, when the Lord saw 00:10:39.299 --> 00:10:44.000 that Moses turned aside, God called to him. Isn't 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:46.139 that interesting? I read someone writing about 00:10:46.139 --> 00:10:49.419 this recently, and they said, I wonder how many 00:10:49.419 --> 00:10:52.440 people walked past that burning bush and didn't 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:56.029 notice it. How many people were on that familiar 00:10:56.029 --> 00:10:58.370 path? How many people were out there beyond the 00:10:58.370 --> 00:11:00.330 wilderness and they see this thing and God is 00:11:00.330 --> 00:11:04.690 just waiting for them to turn aside? But it's 00:11:04.690 --> 00:11:08.350 only Moses who actually does. And when the Lord 00:11:08.350 --> 00:11:12.529 sees that Moses turns aside, that is when God 00:11:12.529 --> 00:11:15.429 calls to him. There's a notion in this passage 00:11:15.429 --> 00:11:20.769 that good listening is the doorway to hearing 00:11:20.769 --> 00:11:26.409 God's call. It is interesting to me when I think 00:11:26.409 --> 00:11:31.169 about churches and ministries and leaders who 00:11:31.169 --> 00:11:34.990 I admire, they all tend, or seem at least to 00:11:34.990 --> 00:11:37.929 me, to have one thing in common. And the thing 00:11:37.929 --> 00:11:40.409 they have in common is that they are all good 00:11:40.409 --> 00:11:43.710 listeners. They are people who tend not to be 00:11:43.710 --> 00:11:48.440 defensive, reactively. They tend not to be overly 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:50.279 controlling. They have a vision. They have an 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:52.500 idea of what they're trying to do, but they're 00:11:52.500 --> 00:11:55.779 not coercive in trying to get it done. They're 00:11:55.779 --> 00:11:58.159 comfortable in their own skin. They're comfortable 00:11:58.159 --> 00:11:59.980 in the wilderness, and they're also comfortable 00:11:59.980 --> 00:12:03.320 in their own backyard. They also are these people 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:06.440 who see a need, so they see that bush in front 00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:09.240 of them that is burning but not consumed, and 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:12.039 rather turning to it and saying, wow, that's 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:13.700 an interesting need. Someone should really do 00:12:13.700 --> 00:12:16.370 something about that. Instead, what they do is 00:12:16.370 --> 00:12:19.029 they turn aside and they say what Moses says. 00:12:19.470 --> 00:12:22.610 Here I am. There's a difference in those two 00:12:22.610 --> 00:12:24.490 things. I don't know about you all. Sometimes 00:12:24.490 --> 00:12:27.009 I walk through my house and I see needs and I 00:12:27.009 --> 00:12:30.169 think, man, someone in this house should really 00:12:30.169 --> 00:12:35.090 take care of that. That's not being a good listener. 00:12:36.090 --> 00:12:40.250 I may even hear it, but I'm not listening. To 00:12:40.250 --> 00:12:42.909 be a good listener in the vein of Moses is to 00:12:42.909 --> 00:12:46.570 notice the need. and to turn towards it, to step 00:12:46.570 --> 00:12:50.269 off whatever the path is that we are on, to investigate, 00:12:50.549 --> 00:12:56.710 and then to say, here I am. Do you know people 00:12:56.710 --> 00:12:59.389 like this? I think about stories like Clarence 00:12:59.389 --> 00:13:02.629 Jordan and Millard and Linda Fuller. So these 00:13:02.629 --> 00:13:04.590 were people who were off in the wilderness of 00:13:04.590 --> 00:13:06.990 South Georgia, which really is a wilderness if 00:13:06.990 --> 00:13:08.750 you've ever spent time down there, which I have. 00:13:09.549 --> 00:13:11.429 They were out there in the wilderness of South 00:13:11.429 --> 00:13:13.549 Georgia, and they saw people all around them 00:13:13.549 --> 00:13:16.070 who were stuck in the cycle of generational poverty, 00:13:16.330 --> 00:13:19.629 people who didn't have adequate housing. And 00:13:19.629 --> 00:13:20.950 rather than saying, you know, someone should 00:13:20.950 --> 00:13:23.889 really do something about this, they turned towards 00:13:23.889 --> 00:13:26.190 it. They got curious. They investigated it a 00:13:26.190 --> 00:13:28.149 little bit, and they ended up starting a fund 00:13:28.149 --> 00:13:30.529 called the Fund for Humanity that we know today 00:13:30.529 --> 00:13:35.149 as Habitat for Humanity. Or I think a pastor, 00:13:35.330 --> 00:13:40.850 about a pastor in St. Louis. 1970s, a pastor 00:13:40.850 --> 00:13:44.070 in St. Louis who looked around his congregation 00:13:44.070 --> 00:13:48.110 and he saw just the sheer volume of need. There 00:13:48.110 --> 00:13:50.669 were so many people in this congregation who 00:13:50.669 --> 00:13:52.950 needed care and he could not possibly care for 00:13:52.950 --> 00:13:57.190 all of them on his own. And he listened. And 00:13:57.190 --> 00:14:00.029 he noticed people around him who had gifts for 00:14:00.029 --> 00:14:03.429 listening. And so he thought, I could train these 00:14:03.429 --> 00:14:07.049 people. to minister to others by listening to 00:14:07.049 --> 00:14:09.529 their stories, to entering into their story with 00:14:09.529 --> 00:14:11.230 them, and that's the birth of Stephen ministry, 00:14:11.450 --> 00:14:14.070 a ministry that is all over the world, including 00:14:14.070 --> 00:14:18.169 in our own congregation today. I think about 00:14:18.169 --> 00:14:21.429 Juliette Gordon -Lowe on Girl Scout Sunday, same 00:14:21.429 --> 00:14:26.210 thing. Notice, listen to the stories of people 00:14:26.210 --> 00:14:28.929 around her there in Savannah, Georgia, and hear 00:14:28.929 --> 00:14:32.429 all these years later. We see an amazing ministry 00:14:32.429 --> 00:14:35.250 because one person said, here I am. And it's 00:14:35.250 --> 00:14:37.309 closer to home as well. I think about our own 00:14:37.309 --> 00:14:40.230 church. We had a witness season Sunday last week, 00:14:40.250 --> 00:14:42.029 and we heard about Haiti Outreach Ministry. And 00:14:42.029 --> 00:14:44.509 then on Wednesday, we heard a presentation about 00:14:44.509 --> 00:14:46.830 a medical mission trip to Honduras, building 00:14:46.830 --> 00:14:48.970 on our long legacy of service in the Dominican 00:14:48.970 --> 00:14:50.789 Republic. All of these ministries, including 00:14:50.789 --> 00:14:53.090 Cuba, all of this in one week. We had a team 00:14:53.090 --> 00:14:55.450 in Cuba that just returned. All of those ministries 00:14:55.450 --> 00:14:59.149 were born out of people who were paying attention. 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:02.179 Not just with their eyes, but with their hearts 00:15:02.179 --> 00:15:05.379 and their ears, their souls. They were listening 00:15:05.379 --> 00:15:10.240 in the way that Moses listens. We could go on 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:12.620 and on, cast, hand in hand, away, home, starting 00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:15.940 this afternoon again here at our church, our 00:15:15.940 --> 00:15:19.799 Thursday meal ministry. All of them, people who 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:22.320 notice, who listen, and who raise their hand. 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:24.299 Not, you know, someone should really take care 00:15:24.299 --> 00:15:28.809 of this, but here I am. It's not lost on me either, 00:15:28.870 --> 00:15:31.570 and I hope not on you. As I mentioned last week, 00:15:31.610 --> 00:15:34.470 this whole sermon series is being born out of 00:15:34.470 --> 00:15:36.830 this vision process that we as a church have 00:15:36.830 --> 00:15:38.649 been about for the last year that we're about 00:15:38.649 --> 00:15:41.370 to conclude. We'll present a report to our officers 00:15:41.370 --> 00:15:43.690 later this month and then share that with the 00:15:43.690 --> 00:15:47.450 congregation. But the cornerstone of that work 00:15:47.450 --> 00:15:51.330 was listening sessions. That's not by accident. 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:53.919 That's us as a church. We didn't necessarily 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:55.620 have this language at the time, but that's us 00:15:55.620 --> 00:16:00.700 turning aside, looking at each person who is 00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:04.639 their own burning bush and saying, tell us what 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:07.960 it is you sense. Let us listen to where you feel 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:13.309 God is at work in this place. I was in a study 00:16:13.309 --> 00:16:15.370 this week, and someone who was a part of those 00:16:15.370 --> 00:16:17.049 listening sessions, and I know there's a number 00:16:17.049 --> 00:16:19.710 of you, we had church members, much like Stephen 00:16:19.710 --> 00:16:21.570 Ministry, wasn't led by staff, it was led by 00:16:21.570 --> 00:16:24.970 church members who facilitated those over 40 00:16:24.970 --> 00:16:28.990 conversations with about 250 people across our 00:16:28.990 --> 00:16:31.129 church through the fall. One of them was serving 00:16:31.129 --> 00:16:33.169 as a scribe, so their job was to just write down 00:16:33.169 --> 00:16:35.669 what they heard in the listening session. And 00:16:35.669 --> 00:16:38.710 his comment to the group was, you know, it's 00:16:38.710 --> 00:16:42.330 really hard. To just listen and not say anything. 00:16:43.610 --> 00:16:48.370 And it's true. It is really hard to be a good 00:16:48.370 --> 00:16:52.049 listener. Right? Because we are people who prefer 00:16:52.049 --> 00:16:55.970 distraction. I like my playlist while I make 00:16:55.970 --> 00:16:59.370 dinner. We are people who like easy answers. 00:17:00.230 --> 00:17:03.190 We are people who are told it is okay to choose 00:17:03.190 --> 00:17:08.559 being heard over actually hearing. But friends, 00:17:08.579 --> 00:17:10.619 what I'm convinced of is that what the world, 00:17:10.700 --> 00:17:14.079 what the church, our church included, most needs 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:20.140 in these days are people who listen before they 00:17:20.140 --> 00:17:22.759 lead. The rest of this series is going to be 00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:24.599 the leading part. We're going to dig into the 00:17:24.599 --> 00:17:27.759 different areas that we feel God might be offering 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:30.319 a vision for our church, where we move forward. 00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:32.859 But before we get there, we first have to learn 00:17:32.859 --> 00:17:36.640 to listen because that is the foundation of it 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:40.410 all. What the world most needs are people and 00:17:40.410 --> 00:17:44.349 churches that get quiet enough to notice those 00:17:44.349 --> 00:17:46.470 bushes that are burning without being consumed 00:17:46.470 --> 00:17:50.250 and who, when the voice calls, will turn aside 00:17:50.250 --> 00:17:54.589 and speak those simple but courageous words, 00:17:54.930 --> 00:18:03.549 here I am. Now listen, I will confess that I 00:18:03.549 --> 00:18:06.069 am not likely to turn my playlist off this week. 00:18:08.299 --> 00:18:12.279 But I will commit to all of you, and Craig, you 00:18:12.279 --> 00:18:14.039 can hold me accountable, I'll turn the volume 00:18:14.039 --> 00:18:19.160 down a little bit. I'll try and make one more 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:25.680 space to just sit in that quiet. And I want us 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:28.940 to do the exact same. And we're going to start 00:18:28.940 --> 00:18:30.339 that right now. We're just going to have a little 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:33.200 quiet before we move towards the beautiful sacrament 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:36.380 of baptism. And I want you to notice what... 00:18:36.730 --> 00:18:38.869 I notice when I get quiet. It's not always comfortable. 00:18:40.670 --> 00:18:44.150 But I want you to be willing to sit and just 00:18:44.150 --> 00:18:48.289 go a little deeper and begin that hard but faithful 00:18:48.289 --> 00:18:53.430 work, that critical work of listening before 00:18:53.430 --> 00:18:56.670 we lead. Amen.