I don't know that I heard an audible voice, although some people say that they do. But I heard God speaking through the voices of people around me, and through the scripture, and through the music of U2 and Radiohead and Springsteen and Patty Griffin, and through the books I was reading to try to get a handle on suffering and the meaning of life.
And I heard it in that Christian community that welcomed me and put me back on my feet, St. James, Austin.
Our friend Greg Rickel, who is now the Episcopal Bishop of Olympia, was the rector of that church. Before he preaches, he begins with a prayer that has shaped me since I first heard it. "Most Holy Christ," he says, standing in the pulpit, "speak to us today." Then he pauses, and the silence becomes tangible. When it becomes clear that if Jesus spoke, we'd be listening, he concludes: "And may we have ears to hear."
I don't want to come to faith with what I know from the world. I don't want to shape a Church with my insecurities and fears, with what Augustine called my disordered desires. I don't want a Church run like a business, and with the same moral and institutional sense. I don't want a Church, even, that grows out of my own impulses to peace and justice.
I want to listen to Jesus, who calls us to follow. And then I want to see where he bids us go in the world today.
You can read more about Brian McLaren and his books at his blog here.
Greg Garrett's new book The Other Jesus is currently featured at the Patheos Book Club here.
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