A Time for Prayer – “Seeking the Lord’s Voice”
Rev. Dr. Todd Speed
A Time for Prayer Worship Series
Decatur Presbyterian Church
Psalm 29; Mark 4:1-11
January 7, 2023
Psalm 29
Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy splendor.
The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!
Mark 4:1-11
Again he began to teach beside the lake. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the lake on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’
When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
*****
The psalmist stands in awe of the voice of the One whom we worship. The psalmist describes the Almighty One as fierce and free. The psalmist proclaims how the Lord rules over the forces of nature. The voice of the Lord speaks in thunderous storm moving over the ocean. The voice of the Lord shows up in the tornado that snaps like twigs the massive, concrete-like trunks of the mighty cedars of Lebanon, and that twirls mature oak trees through the air.
In the earthquake, the voice of the Lord oversees as huge, snow capped mountains go skipping in the morning like a newborn calf. And in bolts of lightning, the voice of the Lord sets the forests ablaze. Everyone who witnesses such powerful forces of nature stands in awe and says, “Glory”.
We worship a God who is not subject to, but rules over the power of nature. Though God chose to become incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, to be born as a vulnerable child, the person of God stands above and beyond the created world.
God is above all and through all and in all.
God exists far above our tiny earth, and God witnesses the movements of the good and yet sometimes dangerous creation that God created. Yet, God is not a watchmaker God who has created and then sits back as the world turns. God is a personal God, a God who seems interested and even involved in the events of the earth. The Holy Scripture begins with the Spirit of God moves over the watery chaos, calling forth order and life.
God calls forth enough order to sustain and nurture a rich and wondrous life of plants and animals, of birds and sea monsters, and yes, of thoughtful, communicative, imaginative human beings.
The Spirit of God gives us breath and life.
The Spirit of God speaks to us in various ways and times.
The Spirit of God became incarnate for us in a fragile human creature.
Worship is the natural response when human beings realize the wonder of an Almighty God. We worship the Lord because of God’s holiness, because of God’s power and strength. We worship God because of who God is, because of God’s wondrous qualities. We worship because God is interested and involved in human life, because God is compassionate and caring, especially for those who are downtrodden and in need.
And when we worship, we will often find ourselves called by God to act, called to participate even in the things of God. When Moses received a glimpse of the glory of the Lord at the burning bush, he quickly took off his sandals because he knew that he stood on sacred ground.
And the voice came, I have heard the distress of my people. I have heard their cries for help. Go Moses, and set my people free. And Moses, after giving five reasons why he should not go, eventually went in response to the voice of the Lord and faced the mighty Pharoah of Egypt.
When Isaiah received a vision of the Lord in the temple, high and lifted up, only the hem of the Lord’s robe filled the entire tremendous space of the temple, and Isaiah knelt, awestruck, in worship.
And the voice called out, Whom shall I send? And Isaiah responded, Here I am! Send me! And Isaiah went and spoke the Lord’s truth to a people who did not want to hear. When the eleven disciples gathered on the mountain after Jesus was raised, they worshiped, even though some doubted, because they realized that they were in the presence of holiness.
And Jesus told them to Go! Proclaim the good news to all nations, and they went, at risk of life and limb, to spread the good news to all who would hear.
Worship is a natural response to the presence of God. And being sent by the voice of the Lord is a natural offspring of worship.
In our technological, fast-paced, screen-oriented lives, are we losing sight of the One who is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscious? Have we forgotten to listen the all-powerful, ever-present, all-knowing Person, Spirit, Being who still speaks to, still relates to, still sends disciples, still calls for order and new life in our chaotic and anxious world?
The year 2024 is going to be an important year in the history of human activity. You may be aware that the vast majority of us sitting in this congregation today will face some major challenge in the year 2024.
Most of us will likely have to deal with some major change in our lives, or some important decision, or some significant relationship that will need intention and focus in the coming year. 2024 will be an important year for each of us, whether we realize it yet or not. 2024 will be important for this congregation as we look forward to celebrating our bicentennial in 2025.
And 2024 will be an important year for the world. Did you know that, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,November 2023 was the warmest November in the 174 years they have been tracking the global climate?
And 2023 has been confirmed as the warmest year on record. (www.noaa.gov)
In the Minnesota North Woods, about 25 miles from the Canadian border, Peter McClelland runs White Wilderness Sled Dog Adventures. Peter told an interviewer last week that “it’s more like mud wilderness right now.” One hundred sled dogs are tied up, standing in the mud, itching to run, but there is no snow on the ground and no tourists one to pull on their sleds. Normally, they would have 15 sleds going out every day this time of year. Right now, they have none.
McClelland hooks his dogs up to his four-wheelers and has them pull them around so the eager dogs can get some proper exercise. What will a warming world mean for vulnerable human beings across the globe in 2024? What significant decisions will be made?
What environmental directions will be taken by leaders and by individuals in 2024? Did you know that two billion people across fifty countries will go to the election polls this year? “Countries that are home to nearly half of the world’s population will pick their governments in elections in 2024 – something that has never happened before in a single year.
Starting today with Bangladesh, the polls (will) include seven of the world’s 10 most populous nations: India, the United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia and Mexico are the others… according to cultural and political sociologist Andrew Perrin of Johns Hopkins University… the elections in this mix of nations will represent a watershed year for the concept of democracy itself.
(https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/4/the-year-of-elections-is-2024-democracys-biggest-test-ever)
The question for the Church and for the world in 2024 is: to which voices will we listen? Will we listen to the voice of the Lord? Will we respond when we hear God’s call? And what will we do with the volume of all those other voices vying for our attention?
Perhaps the answer lies in intentional worship and prayer. There is no doubt that 2024 will be a critical time for prayer. It is time for the world, especially the Church, to turn its attention to the voice of God. It is time for followers of Jesus to do more reading of the Bible and less scrolling of frivolous apps.
It is time for individuals and leaders at all levels in all nations to do more listening and less talking.
It is time for more heartfelt, humble prayer, prayers for the needs of the world, prayers for the needs of our loved ones, prayers for how the world’s resources can be shared. Worship is the time and a place set aside to listen, to pray, and then to respond. Worship is a time to refocus our souls.
Today we ordain and install a class of newly elected elders. As many of you know, we spend a number of sessions together in elder training. One of many documents we review together is something we call a Session Covenant. The first item on the list of what your elder covenant to do is: Worship Regularly! The first and most important act of an elder in the Presbyterian Church is to worship!
Before making any plans for a church event, before inviting a friend or neighbor to a Sunday School class or small group, before setting a budget for mission work – Worship!
Worship tends to set our hearts aright. Worship tends to get our minds off of ourselves and onto God. Over time, who we listen to determines what we become.
Who we worship, who we listen to, determines what we do and who we become.
The experience of listening for God’s Word in worship changes us, transforms us. When Jesus would speak one of his parables to the crowds sitting on the hillsides in Galilee, he would finish by crying out: Let anyone with ears to hear listen!
When Peter and James and John experienced the transfiguration with Jesus on the mountain, where Moses and Elijah made an appearance, a voice from the cloud proclaimed, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’
In worship and in prayer, we listen for the voice of the Lord.
From forty years ago, I can still see my father’s hand imitating a heartbeat in one of his sermons. Dad spoke of worship and prayer as being the heartbeat of the church. We gather for worship, he said, then we are sent out for mission. We listen for God in prayer, then we are sent to do God’s will. Just as the pumping of the heart is critical for the oxygenation of the blood, so our worship and our prayer life is critical for the “oxygenation” of the people of God.
Worship is the heartbeat of the Christian life.
We gather in this place on Sunday; we are sent out in mission through the week. We listen to God in daily prayer; we are prepared to do God’s will throughout our days. The One who stands far above the earthquake and the storm, the One who is not subject to the wind and the rain and the fire, is also the One who stands ready to listen to our prayers and yes, to speak to us through the still, small voice.
Friends, are you listening?
Will you listen carefully for the voice of the Lord in this new year?
Will you return to the Source in order to be sent back to a world in need?
The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever. May the Lord give strength to the people! May the Lord bless the people with peace! Let us ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; let us worship the Lord in holy splendor.
Amen.
Rev. Dr. Todd Speed
Decatur Presbyterian Church
Decatur, Georgia
