Introductory prayer:  GRACIOUS GOD, HELP US TO HEAR WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE US HEAR, SO THAT WE MIGHT LIVE AS YOU WOULD HAVE  US LIVE.  AMEN.

   Several years ago I came upon the following anonymous prayer that I like very much.  It goes like this:      “I WANT TO THANK YOU, GOD, FOR BEING CLOSE TO ME SO FAR THIS DAY.  WITH YOUR HELP I HAVEN’T BEEN IMPATIENT, LOST MY TEMPER,
BEEN GRUMPY, JUDGMENTAL, OR ENVIOUS OF ANYONE.  BUT, I WILL BE GETTING OUT OF BED IN A MINUTE, AND I THINK I WILL REALLY NEED YOUR HELP THEN.  AMEN.”

    Today’s Old Testament lesson is about a person who wisely asks God for help.  Solomon has succeeded his father, King David, as the ruler of Israel.  He is a youthful king.  Some commentators believe he was only 13 or 14 years old when he ascended the throne.  Most agree that he was not more than 20 years old.  God appears to Solomon in a dream and says to him, “Ask what I should give you.”  And Solomon, already wise for his years, acknowledges that God has shown a “great and steadfast love” to his father, David.  And then he goes on to say, “I AM ONLY A CHILD.  I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO GO OUT OR COME IN.  AND YOUR SERVANT IS IN THE MIDST OF THE PEOPLE WHOM YOU HAVE CHOSEN, A GREAT PEOPLE, SO NUMBEROUS IT CANNOT BE NUMBERED OR COUNTED.  THEREFORE, GIVE YOUR SERVANT AN UNDERSTANDING MIND TO GOVERN YOUR PEOPLE, ABLE TO DISCERN BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL; FOR WHO CAN GOVERN YOUR PEOPLE?” (I Kings 3:7-9).

  If you are like me, when you read a Biblical passage, words or phrases probably jump out at you.  One phrase that grabbed my attention was this one:    I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO GO OUT OR COME IN.  We might say it differently.  I’M LOST.  I’M STUCK.  I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO.  I DO NOT KNOW IF I AM COMING OR GOING.  Most of us feel that way some of the time and some of us may feel that way most of the time.  I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO GO OUT OR COME IN.  GOD, PLEASE HELP. 

   Solomon’s is a humble prayer.  Through this prayer Solomon is acknowledging that he needs God’s help….that he cannot do this task on his own….that it is too large and too demanding….that in order to live his life faithful and to tackle the humongous calling ahead of him Solomon needs help from a Power greater than himself.

    It is noteworthy that when the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt placed huge burdens and responsibilities on the succeeding President, Harry Truman, this was the prayer that Truman prayed:  “I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO GO OUT OR COME IN….GIVE YOUR SERVANT AN UNDERSTANDING MIND.”

    It is also striking that Solomon prayed for an “understanding mind.”  Of all the things one might have prayed for when given the opportunity to pray for anything, that might not have been on the top ten list for most people.  I am reminded of a humorous story.  Three men were marooned on a desert island when a bottle washed up on the shore.  A genie appeared and said that she would give each man a wish.  The first man wished that he could go back home and meet a beautiful partner and be head over heels in love for the rest of his life and poof….he was gone.  The second man wished that he would return to his home and become a multi-millionaire and never have to worry about money ever again and poof….he too was gone.  The third man reflected, “Gee I miss those guys.  I sure wish we were all together again.”  And POOF!  POOF!  They were back!  I guess we have to be careful what we wish or pray for. 

   Yet Solomon prays for an “understanding mind.”  No IPOD for King Solomon.  No MP3-player.  No HDTV.  While the phrase “understanding mind” is an adequate one, commentators write that the Hebrew root of that phrase is best translated as a “HEARING HEART.”  In other words, Solomon is praying that God will give to him a “HEARING HEART,” a heart that listens for and responds to the presence of God.

   In Hebrew theology the heart represents the inner core of a person’s being.  It is the seat of the intellect, emotions and the will.  Through this prayer Solomon is acknowledging that he is desiring in his “HEART of HEARTS” to be open to and responsive to the creative, inspiring, empowering and transformative presence of God so that he may govern and live his life according to the purposes of God. 

     Michael Christensen and Rebecca Laird have compiled some unpublished writings of Henri Nouwen and combined them with notes from their graduate school course on spiritual direction  to create what they believe is a faithful rendering of Nouwen’s thoughts about that Christian discipline in a book called:  “Spiritual Direction:  Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith.”  And in that book Nouwen talks about prayer:

      “PRAYER IS OFTEN STEREOTYPED IN OUR CULTURE AS A FORM OF PIETISM, A LAMENTABLE PRIVATIZATION OF RELIGION.  EVEN MANY CHRISTIANS SEEM TO REGARD PRAYER AS A GROCERY LIST WE HAND TO GOD AND WHEN WE DON’T GET WHAT WE WANT, WE ASSUME THAT THE PRAYERS DID NOT WORK.”

   Nouwen goes on to say:

       “THE DISCIPLINE OF THE HEART MAKES US AWARE THAT PRAYER IS NOT ONLY LISTENING TO BUT LISTENING WITH THE HEART.  PRAYER HELPS US STAND IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD WITH ALL WE HAVE AND ARE: OUR FEARS AND ANXIETIES, OUR GUILT AND SHAME; OUR SEXUAL FANTASIES; OUR GREED AND ANGER; OUR JOYS, SUCCESSES, ASPIRATIONS, AND HOPES; OUR REFLECTIONS, DREAMS, AND MENTAL WANDERING; AND MOST OF ALL OUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND ENEMIES—IN SHORT, ALL THAT MAKES US WHO WE ARE.  WITH ALL THIS WE HAVE TO LISTEN TO GOD’S VOICE AND ALLOW GOD TO SPEAK TO US IN EVERY CORNER OF OUR BEING” (pp. xvi-xvii) 

   I don’t believe that the purpose of prayer is to change God’s mind--to convince God that God is wrong about something in our life and, therefore, bring God over to your point of view.  And the purpose of a “hearing heart” is never self-indulgence.  THE GOAL OF PRAYING WITH A HEARING HEART IS TO ATTUNE OUR LIVES WITH THE PURPOSES OF GOD SO THAT WE MIGHT “SEE GOD MORE CLEARLY….LOVE GOD MORE DEARLY….AND FOLLOW GOD MORE NEARLY DAY BY DAY.”

   1)  So how do we nurture a “hearing heart?”  One of the things we do is to make room in our lives for peace and quiet where we can really listen for God.  We live in a world that is increasingly noisy.  A recent study revealed that the world is a louder place than it used to be.  And if you are like me, you may find it difficult to really hear God when there is so much external racket and internal noise.  So we need to be still and make room for God to speak to us.

   In the early 20^th Century Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters in response to a young man’s questions about life and collected them in a small book called, “Letters to a Young Poet.”  One of the young man’s questions concerned his vocation or calling.  What should I do with my life?  How should I live?  Should I become a poet?  And in a letter dated July 16, 1903, Rilke writes these words: 

      “I WOULD LIKE TO BEG OF YOU, DEAR FRIEND, AS WELL AS I CAN, TO HAVE PATIENCE WITH EVERYTHING THAT REMAINS UNSOLVED IN YOUR HEART.  TRY TO LOVE THE QUESTIONS THEMSELVES, LIKE LOCKED ROOMS AND LIKE BOOKS WRITTEN IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.  DO NOT NOW LOOK FOR ANSWERS.  THEY CANNOT NOW BE GIVEN TO YOU BECAUSE YOU COULD NOT LIVE THEM.  IT IS A QUESTION OF EXPERIENCING EVERYTHING.  AT PRESENT YOU NEED TO LIVE THE QUESTIONS.  PERHAPS YOU WILL GRADUALLY, WITHOUT EVER NOTICING IT, FIND YOURSELVES EXPERIENCING THE ANSWERS, SOME DISTANT DAY.”

    In a secular manner and without reference to God, Rilke is suggesting that this young man simply “LIVE THE QUESTIONS.”  That is parallel I think to what I am suggesting—that praying is simply BEING in the presence of God….being present with a HEARING HEART (and UNDERSTANDING MIND) so that somehow, mysteriously, miraculously, God may guide us into the way of understanding. 

   2)  At other times our tendency toward SELF-RELIANCE can interfere with our having a  HEARING HEART that really listens for and responds to the presence of God.  Some of us New Englanders and transplants to this part of the world may have adopted a “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” mentality.  We may have concluded that asking for help is a sign of personal weakness….that we should not have to ask for help…that we should be able to handle everything we face on our own, without assistance from God or anyone else.  After all, God never gives one more than one can take, right?   We may believe that the mark of a strong Christian is the ability to handle the difficulties of life on one’s own.  While both men and women may buy into this viewpoint, in our culture it is often we males, who have been socialized to believe that we should be able to handle everything on our own, who readily believe this.  The stereotype, of course, is the man who refuses to ask for directions….thank God for GPS navigational systems!

   Self-reliance is antithetical to the Christian faith.  We are not meant to live alone, but in loving community with one another where we both give and receive, help and are helped by others.   Jesus said, “Come unto me all of you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”  When Jesus said “all,” I trust that he really meant all.  It is alright to not know how to go out or how to come in.  It is alright to ask for help. 

   3)   At times we may have a difficult time HEARING WITH OUR HEARTS because we may not believe that God can actually help us.  Due to disappointments in our faith or learned beliefs, we may conclude that God cannot really do much for us anyway, even if we pray.  The early Deists, for example, believed that God was uninvolved in the day-to-day functioning of the world.  They assumed that God has created the world, wound it up like a clock, and let it go—for better or worse.  But the good news of the Christian faith is that God is not a hands-off God or a fascinating philosophical idea, but a real and vital presence who is actively and compassionately involved in human lives, even in ways that we do not understand.  In his book, “The Magnificent Defeat,” Walter Brueggeman writes:

     “FOR WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW, OF COURSE, IS NOT JUST THAT GOD EXISTS, NOT JUST THAT BEYOND THE STEEL BRIGHTNESS OF THE STARS THERE IS A COSMIC INTELLIGENCE OF SOME KIND THAT KEEPS THE WHOLE SHOW GOING, BUT THAT THERE IS A GOD RIGHT HERE IN THE THICK OF OUR DAY-BY-DAY LIVES WHO MAY NOT BE WRITING MESSAGES ABOUT HIMSELF IN THE STARS BUT IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER IS TRYING TO GET MESSAGES THROUGH OUR BLINDNESS AS WE MOVE AROUND DOWN HERE KNEE-DEEP IN THE FRAGRANT MUCK AND MISERY AND MARVEL OF THE WORLD.  IT IS NOT OBJECTIVE PROOF OF GOD’S EXISTENCE THAT WE WANT, BUT THE EXPERIENCE OF GOD’S PRESENCE.  THAT IS THE MIRACLE WE ARE REALLY AFTER, AND THAT IS ALSO, I THINK THE MIRACLE THAT WE REALLY GET.”  (Quoted in “The Ragamuffin Gospel, p. 93) 

   4) Finally, our fear that we are ultimately unacceptable and unlovable may make it difficult for us to sit with HEARING HEARTS.  Nouwen writes:

      IT IS DIFFICULT TO LISTEN WITH THE HEART “SINCE WE ARE SO FEARFUL AND INSECURE.  WE KEEP HIDING OURSELVES FROM GOD AND FROM OTHERS.  WE TEND TO PRESENT TO GOD AND TO OTHERS ONLY THOSE PARTS OF OURSELVES WITH WHICH WE FEEL RELATIVELY COMFORTABLE AND WHICH WE THINK WILL EVOKE A POSITIVE RESPONSE.  THUS OUR PRAYER LIFE BECOMES VERY SELECTIVE AND NARROW.” 

   Throughout his writings, Nouwen affirms that the greatest spiritual challenge of most human beings is to trust that our deepest and most authentic identity is that of the “beloved children of God.”  It helps when one has experience that kind of love in human form.  It is much harder to live into that trust when one has been betrayed and hurt by other human beings.  But it is perhaps the deepest affirmation of the Christian faith—that despite our fears, doubts, and insecurities, our known and unknown sins, our struggles with compulsive and addictive behaviors, the behavioral ruts that plague us from decade to decade, the seeming difficulty we have in making the changes we want to see in our lives….we are still, in all of our vulnerabilities and brokenness, the beloved children of God.  And when we really get that….things begin to change.

   Solomon asks God for a “HEARING HEART,” a heart that is open to and responsive to the presence of God.  BUT HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN OUR HEARTS HAVE HEARD FROM GOD?  HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE HEARING IS ACTUALLY FROM GOD?  Oftentimes we don’t know.  However, here are some benchmarks: 

     Regarding his sense of calling, the Rev. Malcolm Himschoot, a UCC minister in Minneapolis, has written, “GOD’S CALL IS ALWAYS TO BECOME MORE THAN WE DREAMED POSSIBLE, ALWAYS TO HAVE INTEGRITY, AND NEVER TO GIVE IN TO FEAR….IT’S HARD TO DESCRIBE WHAT THE VOICE OF GOD SOUNDS LIKE.  IT’S NOT NECESSARILY A THUNDEROUS VOICE.  SOMETIMES IT’S A STILL, SMALL VOICE.  I ALWAYS IMAGINE IT’S THE VOICE OF SOMEONE KIND AND LOVING AND JUST.  IF I HEAR SOMETHING THAT’S NOT THAT, I JUST KEEP LISTENING.”

   Those are good benchmarks, aren’t they?  If the voice you hear is seeking kindness, love, and justice, then it is likely the voice of God.  Certainly this is consistent with the words of the OT prophet Micah, who wrote, “GOD HAS SHOWN US WHAT IS GOOD.  AND WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE OF YOU, BUT TO DO JUSTICE, TO LOVE KINDNESS, AND TO WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD? (Micah 6:8)”     If the communication that we discern from God causes us to have greater love for God, to show more love to other human beings, and to have increased love and respect for ourselves, then I think, we have heard from God. 

   I am so grateful that the UCC has adopted a famous quotation by Gracie Allen as its motto.  “NEVER PUT A PERIOD WHERE GOD HAS PUT A COMMA.”  Because “GOD IS STILL SPEAKING” and revealing more of God’s kindness, God’s love, and God’s justice to a world desperately in need of KINDNESS, LOVE, and JUSTICE….and WE ARE ASKED TO LISTEN FOR GOD WITH HEARING HEARTS.

  So we are nearing the end of this service.  Perhaps our prayer now could go something like this: 

       I WANT TO THANK YOU, GOD, FOR BEING CLOSE TO ME SO FAR THIS DAY.  WITH YOUR HELP I HAVE TEMPERED MY DISGRUNTLEMENT THAT THIS SERMON HAS GONE ON SO LONG.

     WITH YOUR HELP I’VE WORKED REALLY HARD TO BE LESS JUDGMENTAL OF THE QUALITY OF THE SINGING I HEAR FROM PEOPLE AROUND ME. 

   WITH YOUR HELP I’VE TRIED HARD NOT TO BECOME TOO DISTRACTED CONTEMPLATING WHAT I’M GOING TO DO THIS AFTERNOON OR WHERE I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW

   AND WITH YOUR HELP I’VE BEEN ABLE TO REIN IN MY ENVY OF PEOPLE WHO SEEM TO HAVE SO MUCH MORE THAN I DO.   BUT THIS SERVICE WILL SOON COME TO AN END AND I WILL BE LEAVING THIS SANCTUARY….AND THEN I THINK I WILL REALLY NEED YOUR HELP.”

   Thankfully, as Solomon knew at a tender age when facing a daunting challenge, help is always available to us human beings.  So, like the precocious adolescent King Solomon, we pray for HEARING HEARTS that we may listen for and respond to the vital presence of God who comes to us with KINDNESS, LOVE, and JUSTICE to inspire our service in the world in Christ’s name.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.