Spiritual Guidance - A Voice In The Crowd

Spiritual Guidance: A Voice in the Crowd with Rev. Josh Reeves. Is the dominant voice in your life guides and uplifts or does it criticize and fill you with doubt? There's a voice available to hear and heed that declares our grandest truth, and always cheering us on!

Transcript

So the story I want to share with you this morning is about the great Ted Williams who played 19 seasons for the Boston Red Sox,

Once hit over 400,

Still known today as one of the greatest baseball players of all time and he was beloved in Boston.

He was known for being quite eccentric as well and he was he was loved except for one brief period in 1942 and in that year America was entering World War II and Williams became drafted and he thought he'd be better off playing baseball than going to war.

He thought the war was going to be won right away anyhow so he applied for a deferment and it was granted and when the press got a hold of this they let him have it.

So the famous Ted Williams became the infamous Ted Williams and on opening day that year he approached the plate for his first at-bat to a crowd full of boos.

Boo!

And any athlete will tell you that to be booed on the opposition's field is one thing it can give you a certain charge but there's nothing worse than being put down by your own home crowd right?

And what did Williams do being the incredible baseball player that he is he stepped up to the plate and he hit it right out of the park.

Home run and immediately all the boos turned to cheers.

The zero became a hero once again and I will tell you that Williams went on to serve his country proudly and with distinction in World War II and the Korean War but what I really want to tell you is something that happened after the game there was a reporter who was asking Williams some questions and he said Ted how did it feel to have the whole crowd cheer for you the way that they did?

And Williams reply was it wasn't the whole crowd there were two people out and left and one out and right I could hear them I could hear them how about that?

To hear thousands of people cheering uplifting you enjoying you and yet to really hear the ones that are still booing and putting you down can any of us relate to that?

I know that there may not be a lot of professional athletes in the room but I would argue that we all have an audience we all have a crowd and hopefully for most of us your crowd is filled with people who love and support you who are there for you whether you hit a home run or you strike out who love you no matter what but for most of us there's those two out and left and there's that guy out there and right and it's hard not to hear their criticisms it's hard sometimes not to give in to the naysayers the critics those who don't want to see us succeed but my my message to you today is that there's a voice in the crowd there's a voice for you that is a voice of love a voice of encouragement a voice of joy a voice that may include the chorus of everyone that's ever loved you in your life a voice that is there to uplift you but it's up to us to listen to it if we listen deeply enough we will learn that there is always as well a sacred voice.

Ernest Holmes our founder was so gifted at sharing that voice of the divine that sacred voice he said the greatest gift life could have made to you is yourself you are a spontaneous self-choosing center in life in the great dream of being the great joy of becoming the certainty of eternal expansion you could not ask for more and more could not have been given true now I got to be honest with you I believe that but I don't know if I always know that you know and I don't want to just believe that I want I want to embody that I want to feel that in my bones and beat it in my heart I want to really know that truth about myself but if I want to get there I have to I have to listen I have to discern between that divine voice in my life and the voice of the critics and when not to listen to it I have to ask myself am I listening to the voice that tells me that I'm a child of God or the voice that tells me that my butt looks big in these pants am I listening to the voice that tells me I'm a beautiful expression of life or that my hair looks different or that yellow is an interesting color on me am I listening to that voice that tells me not only that I'm enough but that I can achieve and accomplish great things in this life or am I giving in to that voice of someone else or my own creation that tells me that I'm not enough or not good enough what are you listening to because that voice that you choose to listen to is defining your life and when we listen to those critical voices for too long we begin to develop stories narratives for our lives that can be very hard to break out of I remember a woman named and came to see me once named named crystal for some counseling and I thought she was going to talk to me about a problem in her life but she was really there to try and get me to confirm a deep-held story that she had about her life that story was that God did not mean for me to be loved God didn't make me to be loved it sounded ridiculous to me but boy did she have a lot of evidence for it if you ever notice that with people who have major stories for their lives especially kind of dramatic ones they have a lot of evidence to support it and she shared with me that when she was little her mom could be abusive she would get drunk and she would say things like you were you were meant to be a boy and you know the reason you're so homely it's because you were supposed to be a boy and and there there that story started to be ingrained in her God did not mean for me to be loved in her late teens she did meet someone and they had a child together but he only hung around for a couple years and then he was gone he abandoned them God did not mean for me to be loved she dedicated her life to service to being there for her son to putting herself a single mom through nursing school which is intense and challenging and that was her story I'm there to give love and be of service to others but but not for me she did have a couple other relationships in her life but they moved in and out like the seasons they were men who would show up to get love but subjectively they knew that they wouldn't have to be responsible to give it to her in return and so they would be irresponsible when they they'd leave and come back and there again there's that story God did not mean for me to be loved and it broke my heart hearing her tell this story that she'd been living her whole life living under this narrative and and who was I to take it away from her who was I to tell her what I knew about her she'd been living her life there was only one question that I could ask her only one that I could think of in that moment the question was what if you're wrong what if you're wrong what if God does want you to be loved what if the divine has been working your whole life trying to connect you to the right people in the right places but you've been so caught up in this other story that you missed out on it what if God meant you to be as loved if not more loved than any human being who's ever been brought forth from this beautiful world that we live in what if you're wrong do you have a story like crystals a story about not being good enough a story about being too old to try something new a story that it's too late to find meaningful love in your life a story that you don't have the courage to step forward and take a big leap a story that you're an isolated being that no one really deeps down cares about you well I have one question for you what if you're wrong what if you're wrong when we can learn to get past the voice of not enoughness the voice of those few in the crowd that put us down we can begin to open up to hearing a grander voice a voice that tells us a higher story a greater truth about who we are that helps connect us to our passion in life and to where the world is longing for it most I love the following words from Frederick Beaton or about purpose he says the place God calls you to it's the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet that beautiful simple the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet he gives a mathematical explanation of it he says by and large a good rule for finding out is this the kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work a that you need most to do and be that the world needs to have done if you really get a kick out of your work you've presumably met requirement a but if your work is writing deodorant commercials the chances are you've missed requirement B on the other hand if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony you've probably met requirement B but if most of the time you're bored and depressed by it the chances are you have not only bypassed a but probably aren't helping your patients patients much either your deep gladness meeting with the world's hunger but how do we know what our deep gladness is if we're listening to unworthy voices how can we hear what the world is hungry for when we only listen to the despairing judgments about it and some of its inhabitants we've got to listen and when we hear that sacred voice then we can embody it then we can live it fully in our lives how do we listen and find that deep gladness it's it's challenging I've got to be honest with you I I remember every bad thing anyone's ever said to me about me maybe some other minister can get up here and tell you how to get rid of that but for me it's it's all right there I can still feel it just like it like it's happening right now I can get caught up in it that critics voice even as a minister I have to admit that that it's happened in the past where I've given a sermon people are saying goodbye out on the line and 99 of them say that was so wonderful that was great but that there's that one that has a comment about my socks or something you know and and what do I do I don't go I go home and I shut out all those voices of good and I procrastinate about that one criticism so I've allowed those those voices in different ways to guide me down the wrong path in my life to cause me to be blind to the deep gladness of my being now I do want to point out that there's a role in life for critics I don't want to put all critics down and some critics have good points you know maybe my butt does look big in those pants you know maybe my talk does need a little work maybe yellow isn't my color but I I have two rules for receiving criticism the first is is it safe are they telling me in a way and in a safe place you know are they telling me and I'm with a megaphone and a room full of people are they writing it on my Facebook wall then then no I'm not receiving that are they saying do you have some time to talk sure then I want to hear it so that's the first role is it's got to be safe the second rule is they have to know who I really am or have a vision for my growth if they're just telling me a criticism to put me down to lift themselves up or because of their beliefs about something then I just try to ignore them and I would invite you to take on those rules too to receive feedback but make sure it's a safe place that make sure they have your highest good in mind and if not ignore them ignore them in religious science we teach that you have to love everybody that doesn't mean you you have to love them close up you can love them at a distance you can build some space and I think the truth is is that we can all fall into being a critic and and and I invite you to ask yourself you know do I spend more time uplifting others uplifting life around me or am I putting them down am I a naysayer in life or am I a cheerleader for the good in life be a cheerleader we can all fall into criticism I love a story that Fred Rogers tells mr.

Rogers he talks about going to a a sermon one time and Rogers happened to be a minister and he sat down he was watching the sermon being given by the minister and he thought to himself this is the worst sermon I've ever heard this is terrible that's a bad bad mr.

Rogers voice I know but it's his notes aren't together properly he's not clear he keeps referring to his behind and telling baseball stories wait that's a different sermon he's he's just just not on and there there's mr.

Rogers being grumpy in church and the minister wraps up and there's a woman next to Rogers and she she turns to him and she's just beaming and she said he said just what I needed to hear and I loved that you know that's that's that's the number one rule of ministers speak to one person and hope everyone thinks it's them you know but for Rogers it was it was a message you know he was the lesser of those two people in that moment he was there bringing an energy of criticism and judgment and here was this woman bringing this energy of upliftment and so are you bringing an energy and a voice of judgment into your life or are you open up to to hearing the sacred in your life that voice now obviously if I had spent my whole life listening to critics I wouldn't be here speaking with you today the great blessing of my life is people knowing and reminding me of the truth of who I am all of my success to me really isn't because of talent or commitment it's because I listened it's because there are wonderful people around me that told me who I really was and who I could really be and I learned even though I've never gotten rid of those voices I've learned that in a tough situation in a moment of stress or a panic to stop and ask myself and say what voice am I listening to right now the one that tells me of my smallness the one that is afraid of my achievement or that voice that knows the truth of who I am and who I can be so that next time you're in a stressful moment ask yourself what voice am I listening to because I have more faith than anything because I have seen it and heard it through the voice of so many people who love me that there is a voice for good in this world that there is a voice for good for your heart that there is a voice for good for your significance and meaning it's that deep gladness that Buechner was talking about it and when you listen to it it leads you to help serve this world and do great things one more baseball story if you don't mind it's the the story of Dallas Braden who in 2010 pitched the 19th perfect game in major league history so baseball has been going on for over a hundred years there's only been 19 at that time I think it's 23 now perfect games that have ever been pitched and that's that's a no hitter plus no walks and not beaning anybody with the ball and it was an interesting story because Braden was a good pitcher but he wasn't known to be an exceptional pitcher it was a big surprise if anything he was known for having a bad attitude on and off the field Braden grew up in a tough neighborhood in Stockton California and there he was raised by his single mom and they had to struggle to eat they had to struggle to get by and and playing little league baseball was the sanctuary for him it was the safe space where he could focus and forget about the troubles at home and at school and he began to achieve but when he became a teenager his mom got sick she developed cancer and she passed away and so he dug himself into this this game of baseball even more his grandma took him in and started to take care of him and he became a big league pitcher and on this particular day things were just flowing he recalls looking out to his grandma who was in the crowd that day making eye contact with her before the ninth inning and then he got those one two three outs and and he just broke down in tears and his grandma came out and she she embraced him and she held the the necklace around his neck that was a symbol of his mother and you're watching this and and you're wondering you know what what what happened was just just an anomaly was he just really on that day how did he he perform this miraculous moment and I don't know the exact answer but I know one clue about that voice that he was listening to because the game was thrown on May 9th 2010 Mother's Day Mother's Day we have that opportunity even in the sea of booze and cheers and whatever it is to tune in to that one voice a voice of the divine within us which again may take on the voice of every person that ever loved you that may take on the voice of every good influence or hero you've had in your life that voice is always there it's always available to you and to I are you listening are you listening when we listen to that voice not only do we discover our deep gladness and how to be it in our lives but we can begin to hear what the world is hungry for too whether it's hungry for you to be kind to your barista at Starbucks to care for your garden do something good on the environment for Earth Day the world is hungry all of the time and we are here to feed it one of the most ridiculous myths to me that we can fall into is this idea that we've come into the world from a place other than the world when in truth the earth has given birth to us just like it has the trees and the oceans and all of the other animals and believe me it did not give birth to us so that we could destroy it so that we could treat it unkindly or especially treat its its creation of us human beings with indignity and cruelty the world gave birth to you because you have something that it needs not only the ability to bring virtue and vision and love but also an ability to give this world a voice to give it words to give it a profound and deeper knowing to get in touch with that deep gladness and to be willing to be it in any given moment the most wonderful opportunities will come forward for you to help feed this world to give it what it needs I love something the philosopher Jean Houston said she said we can no longer afford to become overwhelmed by all the changes going on in the world around us we have outgrown the small story of our lives and the small selves to which so many have confined themselves it is time to acknowledge that the universe resides within us it is time to embrace higher ways of being for a new era it is time to move through life motivated not by guilt or obligation but by gratitude and an abiding zest for doing the things that are called forth by living out our higher purpose give yourself some time this week give yourself a moment in the prayer that we're about to do today just to listen on the surface there may be voices of have to do's of negative experiences or criticisms or whatevers but just keep listening and within you if you're ready if you're open you will feel and hear that reservoir of divine truth that chorus that has been sung since primordial time and continues through the ages that voice that speaks not just in words but as a divine love as a sacred feeling as an inspirational presence know that this is not only the voice of a holy presence but it is your true being your true fire your true passion your true hunger give yourself to this voice be it in your life and allow your life to sing

Reviews

Thank you for sharing this message today. It supports me. Namaste.

Awesome and uplifting talk! I love the baseball references and I hope this will help my Little League guy to be receptive to the message in this talk. I also love those words about our deep gladness meeting the world’s deep hunger. What a thought-provoking idea. Really great, thanks so much Rev. Josh! And I’m sure you can wear yellow if you want to 😊💛

Wonderful! Thank you and Blessings!

Very inspirational thank you and Namaste