A Place of Grace
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Ministry Offerings
    • Audiendo Divina
    • Card Party Fundraisers
    • Discipleship Training
    • Faith and Family Retreats
    • Faithbooking
    • Healing and Wholeness
    • Mission Madness
    • Prayer Art
    • Reiki Retreats
    • Selah Retreat
  • Upcoming Events
  • Point of Contact
  • Reiki for Everyone
  • My Reiki Story
  • Sharing Stories
  • Forms
  • Artwork
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Ministry Offerings
    • Audiendo Divina
    • Card Party Fundraisers
    • Discipleship Training
    • Faith and Family Retreats
    • Faithbooking
    • Healing and Wholeness
    • Mission Madness
    • Prayer Art
    • Reiki Retreats
    • Selah Retreat
  • Upcoming Events
  • Point of Contact
  • Reiki for Everyone
  • My Reiki Story
  • Sharing Stories
  • Forms
  • Artwork
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

Point of Contact
Where Life and Worship Intersect

1/22/2021 0 Comments

Spiritual Practice of the Month, Listening Week 3

Picture
The Mark passage for this week is the story of Jesus calling Simon and Andrew and James and John. "The time is fulfilled," Jesus proclaims. "The kingdom of heaven has come near. Repent and believe the good news." Then he said, "Follow me."

In today's world, there are a number of competing voices calling to us to believe and to follow. It is easy to get caught up in the fury of louder voices, of voices that promise things that are -- in reality -- completely undeliverable or that play to our hedonistic or materialistic greed. These voices also claim that the time is fulfilled. How does one know how to listen with discernment in the midst of these worldly voices?

The voice of God-with-us speaks to us above the din of rhetoric and calls us to repentance first before inviting us into faith and shared discipleship. When we still ourselves and listen -- truly listen -- for the voice of God in the midst of the chaos around us, we can hear Jesus issue an invitation to us as he invited the disciples on the beach beside the sea of Galilee. 

If any of the voices you hear are telling you that you are always in the right, you are not hearing the voice of God because all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

If any of the voices you hear are telling you to just take care of yourself and your own, you are not hearing the voice of God because God tells us to welcome the stranger (Matthew 25:31-40) and love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) and to care for the poor (Luke 14:12-14) and the sick (Luke 10:30-37) and the imprisoned (Luke 4:18).

If any of the voices you hear are telling you that you should worship anything besides God or that  you are superior to your neighbor in any way, you are not hearing the voice of God because God commands us to love God first and to love our neighbor as ourselves (12:30-31).

This is discernment. Go back to the scriptures over and over, and when the scriptures contradict themselves (as they sometimes appear to do), go to the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The example of Christ is God-with-us, showing us ... teaching us ... how to live according to God's law of love. If the voices you are hearing do not align with the law of love lived out by Jesus Christ, then you are not hearing the voice of God. Get quieter. Listen more closely. The call to discipleship is for all people: Repent and believe the good news. Then, follow Jesus.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Julie served as a Commissioned Ruling Elder in a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation for thirteen years. She now absolutely delights in filling the pulpit for colleagues upon request, and looks forward to opportunities to do so. Her reformed perspective is sprinkled with humor and presented with authenticity, and she is open to creatively deconstructing worship as a means to helping congregants explore worship in transformational ways.

    Julie and her husband, Ray, are parents of three adult children, and grandparents of four energetic and imaginative little people. She is an introverted-with-enough-extrovert-balance-to-keep-her-social, perfectionistic-with-hopper-tendencies, time and goal-oriented, kaleidoscopic, and insatiably curious child of God.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017

    Categories

    All Prayer Of Confession

    RSS Feed

Picture
Julie participated in the 25th Seminar for Certified Zentangle(R) Teacher Training in June, 2019, trained by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. In addition to creating art as a personal spiritual practice, Julie also incorporates the Zentangle(R) method in Prayer Art Retreats in a variety of contexts, including church groups, friend gatherings, and at a local art gallery. Check out the Upcoming Events page for a calendar of events, or use the Contact Us page to inquire about scheduling an event with your group!
Proudly powered by Weebly