Is God really talking to me?

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090318.cfm
I Corinthians 2:1-5
Luke 4:16-30

One of the rules of writing reflections about the scripture of the day is that we shouldn't rely upon human wisdom in our study. Purveyors of God’s wisdom must agree that we are going to be informed by God and not by ourselves. We must not only insist upon God as the source of wisdom, we can’t take any credit for it. We don’t make up the great nuggets that come out of the mouths and pens of the writers of the two Testaments. They are handed to them, and also handed off to us. 

“How did you discover that keen insight?” friends have asked us. It was handed to us. We get any wisdom we deliver from its source. 

It makes perfect sense. We can’t make the things up that scripture delivers to us, or we’d be liars and charlatans. To do so would be anathema. We’re not just only human. We’re struggling to be true to our humanity, allow God to lead, and remain humble. That’s the three-sided paradox that Paul explains in First Corinthians. Stand as merely human, speak for God, and make sure everyone knows that God is talking to them.

Yes, this is presumptuous. "You actually believe God reveals himself? And, to you?" Yes, we do. The notion of God speaking to us, then, invites both humiliation and condemnation. Hopefully and prayerfully, we allow for God to awaken others. We're certainly not going to do it. 

The only safe way to "quote God" is to do it with an audience who also believes that God speaks to us. And even there a very large dose of skepticism is probably a good idea. We need to check with each other all the time. “Is that what God is saying?” If God is speaking to us, then we’ll be able to confirm or deny through the shared and particular revelation among a community of faith. Fortunately, that delightful expectation is built into the whole wisdom-handing-off-deal of God. We are supposed to work through God’s most intimate communications together. The lone wolfs can't let go of their own agendas. It's OK to feed them, just don't let them in the house.

At the root of this kind of thinking is to believe the scriptures from the Hebrews and early Christians reveal the actual factual divine persons of God within the words. We work from the assumption that God is not silent, and he lives in these words. 

Conversely, we must also presume that those who believe God is silent are simply unaware, unpracticed, and/or unwilling to hear God. Most likely, the prevailing notion of a silent God, and the subsequent calculation of no God at all, contribute to not just unbelief but condemnation.

Four year olds have no idea what is in air, and it makes little sense to them that breathing air fuels their body through the lungs. Even the smartest four year olds can only surmise that breathing makes the chest go up and down, maybe in order to pump their heart, sending blood through their veins. The symbiotic relationship of their bodies to air, water, sun, and so on hasn't yet entered their thoughts. Oxygen in the air that fires up fuel in their blood from the food you eat? “I don’t feel or see no oxygen!” They don't get it, so they condemn it.

Similarly for adults who can’t believe God is speaking to them, they have some other more logical, and upgraded sixty-four year old notion, to explain things.

“God isn’t out there, you ninny’s. You have to make something of yourself. You’ve got to chart your course and make a difference. You don’t see God, do you? You see challenges and opportunities. If there was a God he’d come right up to you and tell you. Well, that ain’t going to happen, and anybody who tells you God will speak to you is nuts.”

Adults, however, can ask such certain folks further questions. “Why tell me this? Why eliminate the possibility of the divine communicating to us?”

The answer? “You can't depend on God. Look around you. This life is temporary and we need to live life to the full. It's best we make life a win-win for everyone. Fix what's broken and enjoy what you can.”

Paul insists upon another way. 

“God is right here and he wants to talk to you. Number one, I’m not asking you for money. Number two, you don’t have to sign up for my club. Number three, I’m just introducing him to you. And number four, God will restore and repair everything if you'd let Him. He'll do that eventually even if you won't." (an unauthorized paraphrase)

Paul wants us to know God is both Spirit (unseeable but present) and power (active and consequential). Plus, God wants us all on board for communal witness and example for others. 

Regarding the "temporary" evidence of our lives, Paul does agree. There is, however, an eternal reward of another life. Jesus proved that to be true. The evidence is in the witness of Jesus and his followers. Life exists with God beyond this temporary existence.

If God doesn’t speak to you, then you’re perfectly OK to insist upon the win-win option, noting that this life is based entirely upon what we do with it. (I got a prompting from God that "perfectly OK" might not be the right thing to say right there, so be aware that some editing may be required.)

It just so happens, though, it’s not that God isn't talking to you. That’s not really the problem most of us have. It’s that when God does talk to us, we hold up our hand and put a halt to that whole spiritual voices in our heads thing. We don’t want to pay attention to any of that scary stuff. 

Or, we don’t want to have him talk to us just yet. We want to try out some other avenues of spirituality that aren't so intimate and potentially dangerous. How do I know it's not the devil, or my own wacko subconscious patter?

We especially don’t want the God talking to me that’s also talking to that nut job who bothers everybody at the grocery store.

That’s why God gave us scripture from the prophets, and communities of the authentic faith who abide and live by the scriptures. It’s so that the pastors and ministers and healers and teachers and preachers and everyday common Christian believers of Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical and Protestant faith expressions have a common voice on record for reference to all the revelatory things going on. 

In truth, God is saying so many things to so many people at so many times that we need a handy vetting tool, but one that's got several thousand years of background and vetting lineage. Multi-lingual is good, too. That vetting tool is the people of God discussing (and even haranguing) over the voice of God in scripture and commentary and everyday revelation.

The stuff of scripture comes from the wisdom of God. Being asked and prompted to write about some heady, august insight immediately lowers the bar on the whole wisdom experience. We reflectors are witnesses, which looks quite similar to reporters. We all know the frailties of reporters. The only thing heady about us witnessing folks is that we concentrate on making sure we’re reflecting as much of the light of God as possible. Given our limitations, though, folks might conclude that God’s wisdom is lit up from a pretty dim bulb.

It's not us who you should listen to, then. It is God. And then, let's chat about what we all hear.

Paul says just that. In his typical self-deprecating manner, he describes his preaching in the way we should all understand our limitations. “I did not come with the sublimity of words or of wisdom,” he states, setting the stage for someone greater than he. The true font of wisdom is God. In fact, he says, faith itself is not something that a person can come to. It’s not just wisdom, but faith itself that is handed to us by God.

Paul says that faith does not rest on human wisdom, but on the power of God. We don’t come up with this stuff. We don’t make these things up. So also with faith. Faith is conferred upon us. We can’t even claim the discovery of our own faith. We can only witness to it.

This point is the most important one that Paul, or any one preaching the gospel, can make. What made the saints Mother Teresa and John Paul II so inspiring isn’t their words, or even their presence. It’s that while in their presence, even in reading their words, we are opened to the power of God.

Both Thomas Aquinas and Billy Graham said that without preaching, without any human urging at all, we can still find the power of God in nature. God’s revelatory nature, that he wants us to know him, clearly means that God speaks to us in all kinds of ways.

When you get concepts like Jesus Christ as the incarnated God with us, however, I think the logic buttons typically pushed by beautiful sunsets and long, loud, rushing waterfalls that there is a God, well, let’s just say that a whole lot more faith power is required than beauty and creation.

How about that Holy Spirit concept becoming real? The Holy Spirit asking to live in our hearts? How about the Trinity? God as the Father? Those beliefs must be imbued in us by God. We reflectors can witness all day long. No one, however, can’t believe this stuff without serious confirmation.

I don’t think a priest or any preacher or even our mom can convince us to move into such a relationship. We must be convinced by God himself. We can be inspired, yes. We can be motivated to search and ask and study. But to be convinced? We need to hear it from God himself.

God knows we need evidence. We need him personally to convince us. It’s ludicrous to belief our faith is a matter of where we grew up, whom our parents or mentors are, and what our experiences have taught us. That’s not faith. That’s behavior modification and cultural design. Faith as we Christians understand it isn’t believing in spite of the evidence. It’s acting upon the truth in spite of the consequences.

“Your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God,” Paul says in Corinthians. 

That means even the wisdom that we witness to — a vocalization that confirms our foolishness in the eyes of the world, by the way — is not in itself of any consequence. These things we all say to each other are not the point. The point is the power of God in revealing these things. And, it is only in God’s revelation to each of us that faith can be captured. It is God being with us. 

(That's a lot of stuff, there, dear Jesus. Don't let me throw folks off by any of this. OK. Thanks. It's good to know you love me.)

When God does speak we need each other to confirm divine communications as not some evil demon or dark part broken off from our fragile personality. 

God talking can awaken us in a moment, but the truth of God’s urgings and promptings arise from the constant daily walk and conversation with him in a faith-filled, Spirit led community of believers. It has to be this way. 

God is not a personal totem, and we are not singularity divinities raptured upon our own pedestals. At the base of all God’s communication is love, not confusion, not regret and not rebuke. Love disciplines, but it does not destroy. Love delights, but it does not feast on the weak. Love sacrifices, but it does not commit suicide. 

These things we know to be true because they come from God. That’s him talking to us. From who else would we know this? From where else than his own words? How else would he tell us than through an intimate, communicative relationship?

Or, I'm wrong. When I die you can split up my stuff because that's all there is. Is that what your faith community looks like?

(Sheesh. You're right, God. That wasn't a very kind, witnessing way to end this.)

Glory be to the Father, Son and Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.