Spiritual Blessings
Psalm 85:8-13 and Ephesians 1:3-14
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
July 14, 2024
Reading our two scriptures for today, it became obvious to me that both writers wanted us to hear what our Lord will speak. It seems to me that our spirituality with our Lord is not a one-time thing or a thing that happens on just special occasions, rather our spirituality with our Lord is actually the life we live in relationship with our Lord.
Paul tells us that when we have heard the word of the Truth, the gospel of our salvation, and we have believed in Jesus Christ, we are marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit. This seal marks us as God’s beloved.
Unlike times of old when letters were marked with an imprint of some sort of image, usually with wax, or even today with such items as notary seals and other government seals, our seal with our Lord is not a physical imprint. It is an imprint on our hearts.
This Seal of the Spirit is clearly a matter of the heart. It is not seen as a physical imprint on our bodies, rather it is seen in the way we live. It is seen in our actions and our love toward one another.
This Seal of the Spirit is not born out of jealousy or contempt as we discussed last week. It is born from the love of Jesus Christ being blessed by God the Father. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing because God the Father has blessed us in and through Christ.
Because God chooses us in the mystery of his will, we are forgiven and redeemed in Christ of all our trespasses by the grace of God. Paul tells us this is a plan for the fullness of time. God’s love never ends. We are his here on earth and in the heavenly realm as well.
How do we know this is true? Because in the mystery of God’s will, when we understand the gravity of this grace and love we are given, we come to know the Truth through wisdom and insight that is provided through the seal on our hearts, the Holy Spirit.
So let’s consider a little further how the seal of the Holy Spirit tells us we belong to God.
This presence of the Holy Spirit establishes and confirms our relationship with and our belonging to God. When we listen to the Spirit, we experience the love we have been given and we want to share that same love with others. It is through these experiences of our genuineness of faith that becomes proof to others of our love and breaks all barriers. It’s a love that people want to know and be a part of in their lives. And so it grows from one person to another. The Holy Spirit, day after day, continues to mark a new creation as faith works through love.
Let’s get back to listening. In their book, “Neighborhood Church,” Tatenhove & Mueller, talk about the DNA of listening, and quote Bede Griffiths who says,
‘It is no longer a question of a Christian going about to convert others to the faith, but of each one being ready to listen to the other and so to grow together in mutual Understanding.’
They also quote Paul Tillich who said, “The first duty of love is to listen.”
Tatenhove & Mueller write a section on the art of listening, referring to it as “The Altar of Our Ears,” in which they discuss how we are losing both our ability and desire to listen.
Here are a few more quotes from various people in this section of their book:
- “I have opened myself to listening for God’s still, small voice that allows me to grow in this love.”
- “The cultural and religious diversity of our communities calls for a way of listening that transcends words and belief systems. Learning to truly listen to one another is the beginning of new understanding and compassion, which deepens and broadens our sense of community.”
- “If we take the time to listen, we’ll find wisdom, wonder, and poetry in the lives and stories of the people all around us. That listening is an act of love.”
- The Navajo custom was explained as “Before speaking, and especially after listening, they let blessed silence permeate the present. They believe listening is a sacred part of being in harmony with the world and others.”
‘In a joint project called, “Dare to Listen,” organized through the Texas Public Radio, the San Antonio Area Foundation, and the John L Santikos Charitable Foundation, it suggests a special focus in our divided country — inviting participants to intentionally seek out others with opposing viewpoints. The effort’s website powerfully captures the current deafness in America through these simple words:
We all feel it, this is a time of collective frustration. This impasse of angry proportion. We are all living it. And we are all diminished by it. This is not who we are. We are a nation founded upon the very idea of tolerance. How did we get here? Somewhere along the way we let go of each other’s hands. We stopped creating connections and started severing ties. Today we are a nation with our hands over our ears. Have we become afraid to listen? To listen is risky. Because when we listen, we might just change our minds. To listen is risky. But to not listen is riskier. We believe it’s time to consider, think, explore, and question. To appreciate our differences and find our commonalities. To reach across the fence, build the bridge, open our minds. To talk. And most of all, listen.’
Jesus was a great listener, and he was open to listening to men, women and children. He listened to all that were willing to talk with him, and he listened with love, and he responded with love to whomever God placed in front of him on his journey.
I would say that one of our greatest spiritual blessings is listening, and this is why we see it mentioned in both of our scriptures this morning. How many times do we read in scripture the words “listen” and “hear.”
Whether we listen to each other orally through verbal conversation, the motion of the body through physical conversation, the still small voice of God, or the booming great voice of God within our hearts, we have to recognize the importance of listening and our ability to listen.
One of my favorite things about Pub Theology is that we have the opportunity to listen to each other. We discuss questions that are provided to us through the Pub Theology organization, and we listen to the answers and comments that are being shared by those around the table whom we love.
At our WILD art session this week, we engaged with conversation and experienced the joy of art while discerning how the scripture was speaking to us from the pages of truth.
When we listen, we get a sense of who bears the seal of the Holy Spirit, and who is a follower of Jesus. At the same time, as we learned in the parable of the wheat and weeds, it is not up to us to determine or judge who are genuine, faithful followers as this is known only to God.
Paul names the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If you could imagine your seal of the Spirit, what would it look like?
Let’s pause just a moment and consider, how many of these fruits do we find within ourselves, and which ones we need to pray to be more present within us? (Silent Pause)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
While we acknowledge as humans, we all experience bad days, let us remember that others are watching us, perhaps looking for love they have never known or realized.
As we continue our journey in life, let us not forget that the Holy Spirit is God’s seal that tells us who we are and whose we are. Our very life from beginning to end is a spiritual journey and a spiritual blessing. We come into the world created by God through his love, and we walk this life in his presence, whether we realize it or not, and we return to God at the end of our life.
So what is our greatest spiritual blessing? Life itself in the truth of our Lord.
[PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and LORD”S PRAYER]
God of all Creation, you have blessed us with these lives we live. You forgive us of all our trespasses, and you call us to walk forward in your Truth with wisdom and insight that only you can provide. We praise you for all the fruit of the Spirit, and we pray that your love rain down upon our earth with joy, peace, kindness and generosity. We pray for our nations’ leaders that worry more about the power they can hold on to and grow than the people they serve. We pray for those held captive against their will, those who are oppressed and caught up in the midst of wars they want no part of. Deliver your people, we pray. We pray that we all live with more listening and self-control than judgement and words that harm. We pray for those who are ill and those who grieve in whatever form. We pray for those who have asked for our prayers who are in need of your healing hand, send your healing as we remember these in silence ___________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Hear our prayers, Loving Lord, as we attempt to live in faithfulness to you, and generosity to others who are in need of healing and care, those who are hungry and in need of clothing and shelter. May our spiritual lives you have given us from birth to death be lived in love and in glory to you as we say together the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, Our Father, who art in heaven……..
Amen.