Conversations With God

Jim:

Amos 7:1-9
In the cathedral in Coventry, England there are many beautiful sculptures and works of art. To me one of the more memorable sculptures depicts a city, above which hangs a large plumb line. The work is based on Amos 7:7-8 which reads, “This is what (God) showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A plumb line.’ Then the Lord said, ‘See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by.’” These are words of judgment, of course. God has found human activity to be mired in sin and compared to God’s will to be woefully askew. But grace abounds because God, though angry with the people, is willing to keep a conversation going, to keep talking to the prophet and to the people. God has not gotten so angry as to simply go away, but remains in contact with us. The divine plumb line is the standard that God sets for us to live by, one that would result in grace-filled lives if we would just abide by it. In the mean time God remains involved with us.

Revelation 1:1-8
Another conversation takes place through the words of Revelation, or, to be more precise, many conversations, some of which involve us as participants. Verse 3 says, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the word of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it….” The first conversation will be between God and the writer of Revelation. But there will be countless others to follow: between those who read the book and the Holy Spirit who gives meaning to the words; those who undertake to preach from the book and those to whom they preach; those who share the good news as found in Revelation with those who have not received the word of God; and so forth. Blessings abound through the word of God.

Matthew 22:23-33
A third conversation takes place in our reading from Matthew when a group of Sadducees come to Jesus and challenge him with a question. Jesus responds with such power and clarity that “when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching” (verse 33). Sadly, given a chance to talk to Jesus, to learn from the Messiah, these Sadducees wanted to try to trap him or to show that he was wrong. Even if they were not convinced he was the Messiah they could see that he taught with authority. Why waste the opportunity? Why not have a serious conversation and learn as much as possible? What about us? Do we have serious conversations with God when we pray? when we read scripture? when we worship? Or do we waste our opportunities? And most importantly, when we converse with God are we paying attention? God is speaking to us, are we listening?