1. Shh…..

2. Are you watching?

3. Shhhh…..

4. Are you paying attention?

5. Shhhhhh…..

6. Can you hear it?

7. Shhhhhhhh…

8. Silence has a sound,

9. but it is not heard with our ears.

10. Shh…..

11. You hear it with your soul.

12. Can you hear it?

13. Shhhh…..

14. Listen.

15. Shhhhhh…..

16. Do you have the ears to hear?

17. Shh…..

18. Can you just listen for 30 seconds?

19. Let’s find out…

20. Ready?

21. Set,

22. Go!

24. 3

25. 2

26. 1

27. Done.

28. What did you hear?

29. Did you hear that cough?

30. The creaking of the pews?

31. Outside noises?

32. Did you hear yourself?

33. Your breath and beating heart

34. all have a sound,

35. but we tune them out.

36. There is always background noise,

37. but we only pay attention

38. when we are told to.

39. Do you know what I’m talking about?

40. Wait…I’m not talking.

41. No voices were used in the making of this sermon!

42. At least no voices that you hear with your ears…

43. Being silent, listening,

44. and calming ourselves is important

45. for your health

46. for your body

47. for your mind

48. and especially

49. for your soul.

50. So…

51. Ready to try more?

52. No?

53. Too bad!

54. Can you go for 35 seconds?

55. Ready, set,

56. Go!

58. 3

59. 2

60. 1

61. Done.

62. How do you feel?

63. Bored? Confused? Happy?

64. Maybe you don’t feel anything…

65. Or maybe you are always feeling,

66. but you don’t pay attention

67. until someone tells you to.

68. When we are quiet--

69. it is then that we might actually hear.

70. Our bodies speak.

71. Our emotions and feeling speak.

72. In fact, they are always speaking,

73. but we don’t listen.

74. You with me?

75. If I’m right,

76. then

77. you need to be silent more.

78. Shh…..

79. How about just 15 seconds this time?

80. Ready, set, go!

82. 3

83. 2

84. 1

85. Done.

86. Piece of cake huh?

87. Now,

88. if our bodies and feelings are speaking,

89. but we need to quiet ourselves to hear them,

90. then might the same be true for God?

91. The answer is:

92. Yes!!!!!!!!

93. Everybody nod your heads!

94. Yes! Yes! Yes!

95. The Holy Spirit of God

96. is speaking to you

97. right now.

98. Seriously.

99. I’m not lying.

100. I can hear the voice of God

101. speaking to me.

102. Can you?

103. Can you quiet yourself and hear God?

104. Shh…..

105. Can you quiet not only your mouth,

106. but also your heart and mind?

107. That is MUCH harder.

108. It will take practice.

109. But, it is possible to be still

110. in your body, mind, and heart.

111. And then you listen in a whole new way.

112. You can hear God speaking.

113. It is a voice that has always been there.

114. And always will be there.

115. You know about this voice already because

116. every once in a while God cranks up the volume

117. and you hear God speaking.

118. We think it is a miracle, a vision, a prophecy

119. And we perceive it as a unique and amazing event.

120. But what if hearing God was actually

121. the most normal thing ever?

122. So normal and common, it is like breathing--

123. a normal, natural thing that

124. you do automatically

125. and without even thinking.

126. What if listening to God was

127. just like breathing.

128. I want you to try something with me.

129. I want you to pay attention to your breath.

130. Just do what I tell you to do. It isn’t hard.

131. Ready?

132. Breathe in.

133. Breathe out.

134. Breathe in through your nose.

135. Breathe out through your mouth.

136. Breathe in through your nose.

137. Breathe out with a big sigh.

138. You are all very weird.

139. But you know what is weirder than

140. paying attention to your breath?

141. Paying attention to the voice of God.

142. THAT

143. IS

144. SO

145. WEIRD

146. And it is amazing, refreshing, miraculous,

147. beautiful, astounding, right and true.

148. What if hearing from God was as easy

149. as listening to your breath?

150. There is no “what if”

151. It IS that easy.

152. It really is!

153. I know you don’t think so.

154. Yes…I can read your mind.

155. Not really.

156. 40

157. But I do know what number 40

158. 40

159. You are thinking about right now.

160. You were thinking about 40. Right?

161. Anyway…

162. Back to the God stuff.

163. The good stuff.

164. Were you listening to the story?

165. The scripture read this morning?

166. It was about Elijah and God.

167. And this woman named Jezebel,

168. but I don’t really want to talk about her

169. except to say that she was going to kill Elijah.

170. Elijah got scared and ran,

171. then he got grumpy and gave up,

172. and then he journeyed for 40 days,

173. and finally found himself a nice cave to sleep in.

174. God met him in the cave.

175. And God spoke!

176. God tells Elijah to meet him outside,

177. so Elijah goes outside and

178. there was a powerful wind,

179. but God was not in the wind.

180. There was an earthquake,

181. but God was not in the earthquake.

182. There was a fire,

183. but God was not in the fire.

184. And then came a gentle whisper…

185. Shh…..

186. God met Elijah in the whisper.

187. In the quiet.

188. In the calm.

189. God will meet you too.

190. God is already waiting for you

191. to stop paying attention to the noise.

192. And to let the clamor and chaos

193. stop for a while.

194. As you quiet your body,

195. feelings and mind.

196. And listen to the sound

197. of the gentle, whispering voice of God.

198. There is such great wisdom

199. in learning to listen to that gentle whisper.

200. So you ready to try again?

201. Think we can listen for 60 seconds?

202. I bet we can.

203. Before we do, I want you to

204. remember that God loves you

205. and we love you too.

206. Now back to the listening.

207. Ready, set, go.