listening prayer

We've been thinking and talking about hearing God's Word through all the ways God might want to communicate. Last night we practiced listening to God as a community. Here is some of what we heard, sensed, imagined, and felt last night as we listened for God's Word to come to us and guide us as we consider our presence south of the fence:

• Jeremiah 29:11-13: For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
• Matthew 25:35-36: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
• 1 Corinthians 13:13: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
• Matthew 22:39: (2nd greatest command): "Love your neighbor as yourself."
• The image of a thread of leaders weaving it's way down the coast.
• James 1:27: Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
• Bringing 2 worlds together
• Being both here and there through the bigger church, the community of believers, through the Body straddling the border
• Reflection (Reflejo)...the image of a mirror...seeing ourselves through others...with others
• New sojourners...people joining us who would not have come before
• Mark 2: Making our way through the crowds; being willing to cut a hole in the roof or to go against what is normally accepted in order to get people to Jesus.

We don't know what all this means. But somewhere in there is God's gentle voice. So lets keep listening. Lets seek understanding. And then lets respond.