At the time, the word obey was not really even in my vocabulary. I looked around and saw that this was not one of those rarely used hymns where people mouth the words and don’t really sing. The congregation there was singing this hymn -- with gusto. They knew it. They sang it like it meant the world to them. I couldn’t figure out how they were doing it. The words were getting stuck in my throat. Trust and obey? Rebel was in my vocabulary. To sin boldly was my more typical practice. I was more familiar with my own congregation’s proclivity toward talking about the acceptance of Jesus as someone who loved everybody – be they good or not so good. This “no other way to be happy” stuff was confusing to me.

Obedience is still a concept that bristles the hairs on the back of my neck. My sister-in-law will correct her children by telling them to “obey” her. The first time I heard that, I was right back in that Baptist church with a big lump in my throat. But at least now, I can identify the lump. The lump comes from what our culture teaches us about the nature of relationships. People who are powerful, on top of their game, don’t obey, they give the orders. It’s those who are the servants in our culture who obey. McDonald’s employees obey. Customer service workers obey. Children obey. I never wanted to have to obey the rules. I somehow learned that those who were capable enough could be the ones making the rules. That’s who I wanted to be.

But this is not the call of the Christian. The call of the Christian is to the role of the servant, not to the role of the master. That awful hymn may be right. There may be no other way. Sure Christians can and do have power in our culture. But what they choose to do with that power is a matter of our common concern. Is it used as “master” over all, or does it flow from the source of our strength in God alone?

This is where our need for prayer comes in. Are we listening for what God would have us do or are we simply following our own wants and desires? The temptation to power in our culture is HUGE. Philip Yancey in his book on Prayer, comments about the new-found power of evangelical leaders since George Bush was re-elected in 2004. News sources began spreading the gossip on who’s who in the Christian inner circle by reporting on which ones have been invited for breakfast at the White House. Yancey says, “I know what it’s like to return from a White House meeting loaded down with briefing books and souvenirs, inflated with a sense of self-importance, and then enter my prayer closet and try to regain Jesus’ perspective on the world.” And he continues, “When I pray, especially after brushing the skirts of power, I must remember that God’s kingdom is not an adjunct to U.S. politics, not a mere voting bloc; nor is it an international fellowship, a genteel and moral version of the United Nations useful for such tasks as feeding orphans and drilling wells. God’s rule encompasses all human transactions and all history.” (Yancey, 116)

With such power at our heels comes an even bigger need to listen. First world Christians, particularly first world, U.S. Christians need to really consider what it means to be servants of God, our one true master, when servanthood is very nearly a repulsive image in our worldview. Jesus was a servant who was never invited into the seats of power except to be crucified. He began his years of a ministry of serving others by listening to a voice from heaven tell him, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” God is pleased to have us listening, but has never been thrilled when we try to take on the god-role for ourselves.

Listening is certainly something my son can tell you he’s heard a lot about. We talk about the need to “listen” in our household – a lot. It’s one of our very most important rules. We listen to each other. We try to be attentive and supportive. The younger Englishes have to listen to their elders – and by that it’s more than just hearing the words – it’s actually following them if there’s some instruction or advice attached. In this sense, listening has a secondary meaning other than what we do with our ears; it’s what we do with our actions as well. The concept of listening takes on that other word, the one I don’t like very much. Listening well is the same as being obedient. Our happiness is linked to that obedience. In Jesus Christ, we are freed for “joyful obedience” is how one of the standard Presbyterian prayers puts it.

My son wouldn’t say it that way. Like his mother felt years before him, he’s pretty sure that listening stinks. A third graders made up rules are much better – you can stay up as late as you want, eat nothing but candy, and never ever brush your hair. But even as an adult, obedience is a frightening word – one that no one would take on happily or joyfully so it would seem. Listening – whether it’s to Mom or to God makes us responsible for who we are and accountable for our actions. It takes a few years to learn that there’s no one else to blame but ourselves when we get the Halloween candy stomach ache. If we’ve heard God’s Word in scripture, and taught at Sunday School, and interpreted through sound preaching, then as adults, we’re responsible for what’s in it. We can all quote the greatest commandment: we are to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength and we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. That’s just the beginning! We may be able to say that we heard that, but God also wants us to put it into practice. Oh, that’s the tough part. I’m in agreement with Cade. Listening is hard work, and maybe even a harder prayer. I don’t always want to know what God wants me to do. It’s better not to know. It’s easier to be ignorant because then I can nurse my grudges, and blame all I want to, and stick my head in the sand. We can try to shut God out of our prayers, but I’ve found that doesn’t work either. God will get to me. God will get to you too. God is the master. We are the servants.

But the interesting part is that we Christians get to “choose” to be servants. We don’t have the unfortunate circumstance in this particular place and time to be forced into servitude due to our birthright or skin color. So what comes with this choice? A servant the likes of the one described in Isaiah 42 or through Jesus himself calls forth justice and is the delight of the master. This servant will not grow faint or be crushed until justice is established in all nations. Whoa! That’s a whole lot of listening, patience, and reconciliation. In Denise Goodman’s guidelines for healthy church life called Congregational Fitness, she describes the responsible church member as one who is well informed and helps to keep others well informed by practices of open communication – therefore, a good listener. Servants of God also play fair. They are concerned about justice – as scripture says. And congregations that are fit hold these servants of the Lord accountable for their behavior – especially in regards to what they say, how they say it, and to whom they say it

For the sake of our church family, listening is vital. We need to hear and seek understanding with one another, and we need to do that other kind of listening and practice obedience to God’s plan for us. But even in this established community of leaders, there is an underlying ethic of service that we can tap into from our church’s history. This community began with people who were invited to respond to a call to service. Some were called for their intelligence, some for their expertise, some out of a sense of duty, but there are any number of call stories in our town, because relatively few people were “born into” the experience that is now Oak Ridge. The early residents of Oak Ridge were interested in making a livable community. They built churches and civic infrastructure and over time developed ways for caring for those on the borders of this strange island created by the national interest here. And as all the history books say, and then there was MUD.

Serving in this little corner of God’s world has had its challenges. But we need to rise to those challenges again. In honor of the original muddy booted residents of Oak Ridge, an award has been established called the Muddy Boot Award, which Tim Myrick received recently. The recipient of this award is known for his volunteerism, and his striving to make this community a better place. We’d all do well to collect “Muddy Boot” trophies. In order to get there, we have to listen for the need and respond to the needs of God’s people with joyful obedience. That is my prayer for us, and hopefully will become our prayer for one another.

Today we ordain and install the class of elders for 2010. That year seems almost fictional in a kind of Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian way. But these are the people who will be your leaders by serving this church. For those of you in the congregation, make sure that they’re listening. But then honor their insights and judgments. Help them to create an environment where justice is faithfully brought forth and serving the needs of God’s people becomes their utmost responsibility.