Famous anthropologist Margaret Meed was once asked about the earliest sign of civilization in any given culture. Surprisingly, the answer was not a clay pot, a fish hook, or even a grinding stone. Instead, she said it was a healed femur, the leg bone above the knee. 

Mead explained that one would not find a femur that had been healed where a survival of the fittest mentality reigns. A healed femur shows that someone cared. Someone had to hunt and gather on behalf of the injured person until the leg healed. The evidence of this type of compassion, she said, is the first sign of civilization.

While we have come along, we don’t have to look far to see tremendous need. 

French geologist, philosopher, and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once wrote, “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

Let us pray: We want to harness the energies of love for you, O God. In our own lives, we pray for healing and wholeness. Meet us at the deepest point of our need today. And then even as we are being healed, help us to be compassionate, merciful, and loving to others; for we remember that it is in giving that we receive. Amen.

Today, I am deeply grateful for those of you who have supported the Dial Hope Foundation with a financial donation. Hope reaches others because of you. Thank you!

In an old PEANUTS comic strip, Lucy is set up in her psychiatric booth, and Charlie Brown comes to share his problems with her. “Sometimes I ask myself questions,” he begins. “Sometimes I ask myself, ‘Is this your real life, or is this just a pilot film? Is my life a thirty-nine-week series, or is it a special?'”

Lucy quickly analyzed his problem. “Whatever it is,” she says, “your ratings are down. Five cents, please!”

Sometimes like Charlie Brown, we may wonder about life. Does my life matter? Is there more to life than just daily routine – going through the motions? Is there anything special about it?

We only get one life and this is it. In God’s eyes, each and every person is precious, each life matters. Life is a sheer gift. And the challenge for us is to accept it as such and live it as such. 

Let us pray: God of Grace, meet us this day in our daily struggles. Remind us of your grace. Open our eyes to our many blessings, fill us with your Spirit, and empower us to be your light and hope for a world that is desperately in need. Amen.

Over the past two days, we’ve been reflecting on listening, and we continue that theme today.

I remember years ago, one night at dinner, just completely out of the blue, my middle daughter Emily, who was about 3 at the time, reached over and slapped her older sister upside the head. Her sister started to cry, and I asked, “Emily, why did you do that?” She looked up at me and said, “God told me to!” 

Pastor’s kids!  God didn’t tell her to do that!  Maybe she thought he did… or maybe she was just saying what she thought I would want to hear. But, it does raise the question, how do we listen for God?

Yesterday I mentioned that several years ago, I taught a class on Marjorie Thompson’s book, “Soul Feast.” In the book, she makes the point that even though God sometimes speaks directly to people like Samuel, God most often speaks to us without words.

Sometimes God speaks to us through our consciousness. But we have to be careful. Our consciousness is not always completely accurate. My daughter Emily was the prime example. Obviously, she was angry about something that had happened earlier in the day between her and her sister. And I’m sure, in her three-year-old heart, she felt that smacking her sister was the right thing to do.

The wisdom of our faith is: that when our consciousness lines up with the teachings of Jesus, we know we are on the right track. When they don’t line up with the teachings of Jesus, we know we are probably off base. And this is true for other ways of listening to God as well. 

I would also add, sometimes by really and truly listening to those we love and trust, God can speak into our lives. If you’ve ever had a mentor, or been gently guided or challenged by someone else, just at the right time, then you know exactly what I’m talking about… Again, run it through the filter of the teachings of Jesus.

It’s not always easy to listen though, is it? Especially in our day and age when there is noise coming at us from every side.  If it is going to happen, we have to be intentional about it. We have to build in time for quiet and reflection. 

Remember the prayer that Eli gave Samuel: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening…”

Let us pray: God of hope, we pause even now for just a moment in your presence. Help us to carve out time apart with you. Grant us open ears, and open hearts, that we would be attuned to your peace and guidance; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Yesterday we reflected on listening for the still small voice of God. 

It is interesting to me, how so often in the scriptures, when God calls a person, he calls the name twice: Abraham, Abraham. Moses, Moses, Saul, Saul. Samuel, Samuel… It’s like when my girls were little – trying to get my attention: Dad! Dad! It’s almost as if God knows it’s going to get two tries to get us to tune in and listen… (Sometimes it takes more than two, doesn’t it!)

I remember years ago, meeting an older Catholic nun while staying at a retreat center in Geneva, Switzerland. This woman had served all over the world. You know the kind of person you just feel drawn to – that was her. She had that presence about her. And she had this way of making everyone she met feel like they were the most important person in the room. You could tell she genuinely cared.

I was there with a group of students – most of us studying to be pastors.  She reminded us that the greatest gift you can a person – is to listen to them. Not the kind of listening you do, while you’re on your phone, or while you’re thinking of what you’re going to say next.  But really listening…

Presbyterian scholar and pastor Eugene Peterson once wrote: “You enter into the soul of somebody else by not by telling them something, but by listening to them.”

That’s a wonderful gift to give to someone. And as David Augsburger once said, “An open ear is the only believable sign of an open heart.”

I know it’s true with other people – but it is especially true with God.

In the book of 1 Samuel, the boy Samuel is training under an elderly priest named Eli. One night, God calls to him, but Samuel doesn’t know what he’s hearing. He goes in to wake up Eli. And once Eli clues in on what’s happening, he gives Samuel a model prayer. He says Samuel, when you hear the nudge again, say: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening…”

What a simple, yet powerful prayer.  

Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.

Let us pray: God of hope, we pause even now for just a moment in your presence. Help us to carve out time apart with you. Grant us open ears, and open hearts, that we would be attuned to your peace and guidance; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today’s message was written by my friend, Roger Kunkel, founder of Dial Hope.

In Psalm 8:1 we read: “O, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” 

The sun was taking its last breath of day and the moon began to shine in its place of honor. Only a small sliver of moon was scheduled to show, but it arrogantly glinted on the opposite edge, attempting to reflect the glorious sun as it made its exit. My eye could fill in the complete circle of light, delighting in the stubborn nature of the moon in the sky of the gentle south. I made my way across the shifting sand, sinking in with each step. As I crested the small mound of sand I could see the Gulf, the setting sun, the rising moon. It was almost too much for my senses to accept. Each and every sense was stimulated. My eyes have never seen such color before. Only God could mix the hues before me. Only my creator could fade one color so perfectly into the next. The setting sun was brilliant. I could feel God. God was there enjoying the intensity of the experience with me. I felt cradled in his loving grace and oh, so grateful to be alive on this planet. I was blessed to stand in that one place, in that one moment of time. 

Let us pray: Thank you, Lord, for showing me a glimpse of heaven. Thank you for giving me senses to experience you fully. Allow me to hold this memory forever and to remember this passage from Psalm 8:1: “O, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Loving God, we thank you for the majesty of each day and mystery of each velvet night. Our lives are wonderfully made, fragile as lace, strong as spider webs. We pray for those all over your world whose days are gray instead of the ever-changing kaleidoscope of color that paints our lives. O, Lord, be thou our vision. Help us make this day a masterpiece. Through the amazing grace of Jesus Christ. Amen.