4-28-96	Going Through the Door	Acts 2:42-47

1 Peter 2:19-25

John 10:1-10

Next Sunday, May 5th at 4 p.m. the Chancel Choir of First Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor will be presenting the great and glorious Oratorio by Mendelssohn, Elijah. The whole experience is wonderful and so you might consider going, if you can. The chorus will be great and the soloists will be wonderful. And there will be an orchestra. They've all been working on this for some time. I know, because Gini Robison, our music director is going to be singing in several of the solo ensembles. It takes a lot of hard work and practice to be able to sing and play something like this. And, most of those in the whole group have been at it for years. This is true, not only for those who sing and play in as a group, but for the soloists, as well. They've been gifted with singing voices, but it's only been through practice after practice, critical listening by voice chaches and teachers, adjustments made and overcoming great discouragement in some cases that the soloist perfects the gift she or he has been given.

We live in a society, today with many voices calling out to us. Single or married, young or older, female or male, weak or strong, poor or wealthy, no matter what our status or job, we are called to by voices surrounding us from the moment of rising in the morning 'till we go to bed at night. We are pursued, hassled, and harangued by TV, people, radio, billboards, newspapers, magazines, VOICES!, all calling to us with demands and promises like: "It shines your car, like new;" "feel better in hours!" "collectors' item right now!" "Shouldn't be without one!" We hear promises coming at us that shake and bake about how we should buy the perfect rake, or "How about this ideal fishing rod and reel?" or information coming at us about the perfect vacation we can take. Or, how about those voices telling us to get those additional or more useful credit cards? And then there are the voices of promise and challenge asking: "Have you tried bungy jumping?" or telling us: "River rafting through rapids is lots of fun! The bigger the rapids the better!" or informing us all about boom boxes and tweeters and sub-woofers, and all those other things we always wanted to know about.

Today we are barraged by voices like no other time in history. It isn't that the voices are all bad voices. Certainly not! We need vacations and new ideas and we need to hear about new products. It's the shear number of voices around us, the cacophony, the barrage, the babble that causes confusion and distorts the one voice – God's voice – who calls to us like a shepherd calls his sheep. Do we hear God's voice through the din? How can we sort out the voice of God from all the others in our everyday living? Is it even possible?

When you get up in the morning, do you take a few moments to commune with God? Are you quiet, listening with expectation? Or do you, like me sometimes, rush to get showered or shaved and dressed, and breakfasted and . . . out the door without even a thought that God would like to hear from you (or me)? How about even shooting a prayer of "thank you" or a "keep me safe" or "keep my family safe"? Do you even bother to speak to God in prayer this way at any time during the day? Some folks use prayer like a divine emergency brake. They use it only when they're in trouble. Is that you? Or is prayer only on Sunday and then only something to be left up to the minister to do? Are you captivated by the "voices" of the external world and not by the voice of the Great Shepherd who loves with an eternal love?

Dr. Richard Foster has written a book on prayer called "Unconditional Prayer." One of the reasons that we don't pray, he said, is because our own hearts condemn us. He said that certainly this can be justified because we all sin and we know that we sin so we condemn ourselves. We are truly guilty. So we are afraid to pray. We think that because of our guilt God will not hear us. But it's a mistake, a misunderstanding for us not to go to God. We read in I John 3:20 that our hearts may condemn us, but God does not, for "God is greater than our hearts." No matter what our language, whether our prayer is short or long, God cannot hear a bad prayer." God's love is unconditional. God will never snuff out a prayer. Because God is utter grace, our prayers are acceptable. What a wonderful truth this is!

Some of us think that God does not expect to hear from us. I have to smile at this. Do you not think that God wants to hear from you? There is no magic number that you dial to get God. As a child of God, God indwells us – is within us – is close to us like an intimate lover. God is head over heals in love with you. So, fall in love with God! God is in love with you.

In the play "Gideon" which has been a recent hit on Broadway, Gideon says to God, "God, why do you love me?" And God replies . . ."I really don't know!" . . . Then God says to Gideon: "Sometimes passion is unreasonable." Isn't that wonderful?! "Sometimes passion is unreasonable." There is an unreasonableness about God. We cannot control God. God is a God of reason and order. Look at God's creation! From the simplest to the most complex plant and animal. Order, interdependence – reasonableness. Yet, sin happened and grace happens. And God still loves us. "Sometimes passion is unreasonable."

Get to know God intimately through prayer. Practice prayer, become a soloist. Take private voice lessons through prayer. We all can be soloists with God. And we will recognize God's voice even in the noise of the thousands of voices of each day. God speaks to us through God's unlimited means.

I remember, while I was a pastor out in Strawberry Point Iowa, how I liked to go visit some of the farmers who were members of my church. I remember Jim Gibbs and his wife, Sue. They raised cattle. And ever once in a while they'd call the cattle. And those cows would would be in the woods, or over in the meadow, or out of sight or down by the river. But the cattle would never come when Jim called them. He could haller all he wanted, until he was blue in the face, and nothing would happen. Not a sign of those cattle! But then Sue would call. And you could hear them crashing through the underbrush on the gallop to stand in front of her with eager eyes and tongues licking their noses.

Get to know the voice of God! For it is just as Jesus said, "All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

Get to know the voice of God!

Amen.