Scripture, Prayer, Church

​Our readings this week raise the same issue that we talked about last week: living in the gap between receiving God’s promises and enjoying their ultimate fulfillment.
 
Our readings begin with the prophet Jeremiah. Most of Jeremiah’s prophecies are pretty depressing. His nickname is “the weeping prophet” for a reason!
 
But Jeremiah gives us good news this morning. He promises us a “new covenant” that God will write on our hearts. And in this new covenant, we will not need special teachers for, says Jeremiah, “they shall all know [God], from the least of them to the greatest.” We’ll all know God, and we’ll all know how best to follow God. All we have to do is follow the law written on our hearts.
 
It is a glorious promise. And Christ brings it about.
 
Not only that. Christ tells us what the new covenant on our hearts says. We don’t have to worry about a lot of detailed prescriptions. The law on our hearts is the great commandment to love God and neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40). It’s the golden rule to do to others as we would have them do to us (Matthew 7:12).
 
But we need more guidance than that. So, for example, when we are talking to someone with whom we disagree, should we listen respectfully, seeking common ground and trying to learn where we might be wrong? Sometimes. Or, should we speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) even if that means saying hard things? Sometimes.
 
There is not one right answer. So, for more guidance, we look inside, where Jeremiah’s new covenant is written on our hearts and where can find God. Because, after all, Christ abides in us as we abide in Christ (John 15:4). Christ dwells in our hearts (Ephesians 3:17). We have been “marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13), and now the Holy Spirit lives in us (2 Timothy 1:14).
 
When we listen for God’s still, small voice in us, we can discern what love looks like in any particular situation.
 
At least, that’s the promise. But, as we see in our reading from 2 Timothy, life is complicated, even for people in the new covenant.
 
The time is coming, Timothy says, when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but will seek teachers to suit their own desires. That means people won’t listen to God’s still, small voice inside. Instead, people will go their own way, and find others who encourage them to ignore God’s true voice and to do what they want.
 
We can certainly see plenty of that behavior all around us today. We Americans are becoming ever more insistent on getting our own way and ever less willing to listen to people who challenge us.
 
As Christians we are called to be better than that.
 
But we have to be careful. When I read about people who go their own way and not God’s, my temptation is to think immediately about all the people I disagree with. It’s too bad, I think to myself, that all those people out there won’t do right. It’s kind of a satisfying thought because it gives me a strong sense of my own righteousness by contrast. At least, I think to myself, God is on my side.
 
Thinking that way is, of course, a mistake and a sin.
 
The sad fact is, we can’t neatly divide people into the ones who have God in their hearts (people like us!) and the ones who find other teachers that suit their own desires (people NOT like us). We are all a little of both.
 
Sometimes we listen to God’s voice within and obey the covenant written on our hearts. Other times we don’t. At our worst times, we both ignore God and feel self-righteous about it. We are all a complicated mix of deep insight and distorted understanding.
 
We look forward in hope to the day when God’s kingdom comes, and God’s voice rings loud, and we all follow the covenant written on our hearts. That day will come.
 
But until that day comes, the key question is, how can we, complicated and confused as we so often are, how can we better hear God’s voice? How can we minimize our tendency to prioritize our own will, and instead let the Spirit work in and through us?
 
Our readings give us answers, and the answers aren’t surprising.
 
Second Timothy reminds us that “all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” all of which equips us for every good work.
 
Properly interpreted, Scripture is not a club Christians use to beat up other people. Scripture is a mirror in which we can see our own worst tendencies, and Scripture is a tool that helps us do better. Reading and studying the Bible points us back to that still small voice inside each of us that is the voice of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
 
The other way to get better at hearing God’s voice is to spend time in prayer. Luke tells us that is the point of the strange parable in our Gospel reading. We need “to pray always and not…lose heart.”
 
Prayer includes asking God to bless us and the people we love. Ideally prayer also includes times of listening for God’s voice.
 
I try to spend time each day in silent meditation, and I always begin by asking God to “speak, and help me to listen.” Most of the time, my mind wanders all over the place, and I can’t be sure anything good is happening. But every once in a while, I hear something that I take to be God’s voice.
 
Ideally, prayer and reading Scripture work together. We approach Scripture in a spirit of prayer, asking God to enlighten our hearts and minds. And we use Scripture as a check on what we discern in prayer.
 
A third tool is each other. Jeremiah promises us that some day we won’t need teachers because we will be so attuned to the covenant on our hearts. But until then, we need each other to help us discern God’s voice.
 
Not long ago, I was complaining to a friend about Carrie’s insensitivity. At least, that was my intention. But when I told him how I started the conversation with her, well before I got to her poor response, my friend startled. In that moment, I realized, for the first time, how obnoxious I had been. I was counting on my friend to be one of those teachers who suits my desire, and there he was, giving me the reproof I needed instead. In that moment, I heard God’s voice in his words.
 
Our tradition has long talked about discerning God’s will using a “three-legged stool.” The normal labels for the legs are Scripture, reason, and tradition, all three of which, working together, help us to know God.
 
This is what I’m talking about. The study of Scripture. Reasoned and prayerful reflection, especially on Scripture. And the traditional wisdom of the Church, through the ages, and also here and now.
 
At our best, Christian people use all three to help us be faithful to God’s covenant written in our hearts. When we use Scripture, prayer, and our brothers and sisters to hear God’s voice, then we have a chance at answering God’s call and serving as true agents of God’s love in our world.
 
My prayer is that we can indeed use the tools at our disposal to stay attuned to our Lord’s voice in us. And I pray that in Christ’s name. Amen.