May 12, 2022

Last week we mentioned all the ways we’re listening and hoping to hear Christ’s voice clearly as we vision and plan for the years ahead. As we listen to scripture, to members of Spirit in the Hills, and to our neighbors who are not part of our congregation, how will we know when we hear Christ’s voice?

In last Sunday’s gospel reading, Jesus says, “My sheep know my voice.”

We come to know the voice of Christ as we read scripture, sing, pray, encounter Christ in bread and wine at the Eucharist, listen closely to the ones the world calls least of these, remember that we are members of Christ’s body and learn to move and act as Christ in the world by the power of the Holy Spirit poured out upon us in baptism. The more time we spend listening, the more we know someone’s voice.

We listen to scripture remembering, as Luther said, scripture is the cradle that holds the Living Word, Christ. We listen to one another because we are the body of Christ. We listen to our neighbors who are not part of our church remembering Christ is boundless and at times surpising, and is among those we often least expect and who we would not assume.

As we do all of this listening work, we ask the question, what did we hear that sounds like Jesus? We know Jesus’ voice. We are his sheep. What in the survey, in your responses at our upcoming listening groups, in our interviews with community members and leaders, in all of our Dwelling in the Word sessions during Lent and at meetings sounds like Jesus?

What sounds like boundless love? What sounds like a shepherd leaving 99 to go after the 1 who is lost? What sounds like bonds loosed and chains broken? What sounds like a parable that draws us closer to unexpected neighbors or opens us up from our assumptions of scarcity expanding our imaginations with abundance? What challenges our assumptions about those society has called the least? What rings in our ears like life-giving love? What sings joy that cannot be drowned out?

The voice of Christ presses through it all as we recognize it like we recognize the voices of our favorite singer, our own parent, our child or spouse. 
Listen. 
How is Christ reminding you God loves you?
What is Christ calling you to be and do today?
What is Christ calling us to be and become as Spirit in the Hills?

Blessings,
Pastor Drew