January 04, 2026
• Rev. Mindie Moore
Pursuing God’s Will Together
January 4: Learning to Perceive
Ephesians 1:15-18; Mark 8: 22-26
New Year, New Service!
REMINDER TO ALL VOLUNTEERS TO REGISTER FOR WINTER SUMMIT ON JANUARY 10
Pray
When I was in high school, I realized that I was having trouble seeing things clearly. I first noticed it during church—the pastor’s face looked kind of weird. That’s no offense to the pastor, I was the problem here. Because then it started happening in the classroom...I was having to squint in order to read the board, and sometimes even that didn’t help. As you can imagine, these things earned me a very quick trip to the eye doctor to figure out what kind of vision correction I would need, and so for the past 20 some years I have been a proud member of the glasses and contacts club. And what this means is that while my vision is corrected most of the day...when I wake up in the morning I can't see much of anything! The world is just a happy little blur—I can barely make out faces and objects, I definitely can’t read things that are far away. I need help to see clearly what’s going on around me.
Today we’re starting a new series for a new year, where you could say that we are going to be focusing on just that—what it means to see things clearly. We’re going to spend the next several weeks talking about the spiritual practice of Discernment, using Ruth Haley Barton’s book (SLIDE) “Pursuing God’s Will Together” as a foundation for our conversations. Ruth Haley Barton is one of my favorite spiritual formation voices and if you’re not yet familiar with her work, I’m really excited for you to get to know her writing too.
It might be fairly obvious that our hope is that this series would help us become more discerning in our spiritual lives. But while this IS an individual pursuit, it’s not limited to personal experience. We also hope this series will impact the ways our teams in the church go about their work in seeking and receiving God’s guidance. And even in our families beyond this place.
And finally, we hope this series will be a gamechanger for our church as we understand better the mission and purpose of the church and discern what it looks like for St. Luke’s to live this out in the future. As we think about the coming years, what will it mean for us to be God’s people for our world? How do we best live out the things we believe, as the body of Christ together?
So discernment becomes our foundation for all of these hopes. Now, discernment is one of those spiritual words that can be a bit mystifying to us. I remember growing up, I had a youth leader who told me she had the gift of discernment and I both didn’t really know WHAT that meant AND felt kind of jealous because it sounded VERY holy. And I felt sure that I DIDN’T have it. Truthfully, as I’ve grown in my faith, this is one of those gifts that doesn’t come totally naturally to me. I have to work and be very intentional if I want to recognize God’s voice and have clarity around where the Spirit is leading.
Maybe that’s why Ruth Haley Barton’s definition of “discernment” resonates with me so much. She says that discernment is (SLIDE): a quality of attentiveness that over time, develops into the ability to sense God’s heart and purpose at any given moment.
One of the things I like about this definition is how it emphasizes that discernment is something that develops OVER TIME. This isn’t a quick fix, it’s not instant. This definition invites us to be in for the long process of deeply knowing God and God’s direction.
Now I know that we all know stories of people who have had those BAM! Moments where they have felt this instant clarity around what God is saying to them or have even had a direct encounter with God. I think about things like:
· God speaking to Joseph through his dreams
· Moses, hearing the voice of God coming from a burning bush
· Jesus living alongside the disciples, teaching them directly and performing miracles right in front of them
· Or even that person we know who seems to have a direct line to God and has witnessed clear and near-miraculous signs on what they should be doing or the direction their life should be going.
And those are amazing, wonderful ways that God absolutely can and does work and can be beautiful examples of discernment. But for many of us...hearing from God is not so clear or instant. And the temptation can be to believe that if we DON’T have those kinds of moments that we will never be able to hear from God and that maybe discernment isn’t really for us.
But what Ruth Haley Barton reminds us of is that discernment, for the majority of us, is going to be an ongoing practice...not something to perfect, but something to keep exploring and befriending, really as a lifelong part of our spiritual journey. And if it’s slow...if it feels like a muscle to keep strengthening...that’s ok. Keep going, keep exploring and keep growing in this practice.
As we start our own exploring of discernment, today we’re going to start somewhere that might sound a bit simple, but is actually pretty complex. We’re looking at what it means to truly PERCEIVE what God is up to. We can go through our lives SEEING plenty of things around us, but to actually PERCEIVE what we’re seeing and what it means...that’s an entirely different thing. In that passage we read from Ephesians, Paul is praying over the faith community he writes to, praying that they would, “have a spirit of wisdom and revelation, and the ability to perceive.” And that’s a prayer I would echo for US, today. We live in a world where this can be very difficult to do. There are so many things that can get in the way of true perception and discernment.
It’s hard to know what to listen to or who to trust. Not only are there lots of opinions out there, but half the time it can be hard to even know if something is real or AI! I saw a “Home Alone Reunion” photo just last week (SLIDE) and realized very quickly that while it WAS cute that they were all having coffee together, their hands were weird shapes and the umbrellas in the background didn’t line up—not real!
And that’s kind of funny...but it’s also unsettling. We can’t even trust the things we see with our own eyes! It used to be that “seeing is believing” and that was that. But now...it’s not that simple.
It’s not just the things we see on the internet that are difficult to perceive...this is absolutely a challenge that we face in our spiritual lives. In our reading from Mark, we see a man who experienced this struggle as he was brought to Jesus for healing. In this man’s case, he is looking to have his sight restored.
And something I find so interesting about this story is the role it plays in the bigger picture of this particular chapter of Mark. Because while it is a standalone story of a person regaining their sight, it’s also one of a few different stories in this chapter of Mark where people are struggling to see things the way that they truly are and need Jesus’ help to do so. There’s a lack of clear perception all around.
This section of scripture begins with the famous story of Jesus feeding the 4000. And in that story, you see the disciples, people who know Jesus and who are close to him, people who we would’ve put in that category of having moments of direct divine revelation just handed to them...we see this very group of people...completely unable to perceive what’s possible. They see thousands of hungry people and so little food...but Jesus sees that there’s enough for everyone.
From there, Jesus has an interaction with the Pharisees where they also struggle to perceive what’s going on around them, and what’s going on with Jesus specifically. Despite his teaching, despite his ministry...they ask him for a sign. They just can’t perceive that he could be who he says he is. And it’s frustrating for Jesus, and he gets in a boat and leaves them.
Those are the events that lead to this healing in the town of Bethsaida, that we read about today. A group of people bring a blind man to Jesus to be healed. As the story goes, the first thing Jesus did was take the man out of the village. It’s the only time we read about Jesus doing that. We don’t know WHY he does that, but it’s an interesting element to this healing.
Once they get outside the village, Jesus used his saliva to heal the man. This happens a couple of other times in the Gospels...it’s probably always a bit odd for us to read about today. But Jesus does his thing, and he asks the man what he sees. Not IF he can see...but WHAT.
I don’t know what Jesus was expecting here, but I don’t know, if I’m Jesus...I probably expect 20/20 vision!
But that’s not what happens. The man tells Jesus, “I see people, but they look like trees walking.” The healing doesn’t fully heal. The man’s perception isn’t truly accurate. He can SEE...but he can’t see clearly.
So Jesus touches the man’s eyes a second time and it says “his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” (v.25) Not only does the man need Jesus to help him see...but he also needs the repetition and time that we talked about earlier. I know this story is a bit unusual, in that Jesus’ healing isn’t this instant, exciting thing...but I almost wonder if that’s some of the most powerful messaging in this whole encounter. (SLIDE) Just because it takes time doesn’t mean it won’t take at all. This is part of faith—we approach Jesus, sometimes with big hopes and expectations, and sometimes we have to wait a bit to see any kind of result or clarity.
My son is playing indoor soccer right now and when we signed him up, we knew that he would be on what’s called a “house team” and that the “house team” would be playing a bunch of other travel teams that use this league to stay sharp in the winter. His community league coach prepped us for this, but he also said—when he’s done with the indoor season, his skills are going to be so developed.
I can confidently confirm everything his coach said has been true. The house team has won exactly one game...there have been many more games than that...and sometimes it gets really frustrating to see the point in this. But then I remind myself that even though we’re waiting to see a result...it’s not like we’re doing nothing while we wait. This is an active, invested kind of pursuit. And I really believe that, whether we’re talking about youth sports or our ability to practice discernment, these kinds of pursuits pay off.
And when we’re talking about discernment, what we need to remember is that we don’t try to develop our ability to perceive clearly on our own. We do it all with the help of the Holy Spirit and the leading of God. I would say we CAN’T do it on our own. And the good news there is that God gives us so many tools to help us with this development. We have things like scripture, prayer, our faith community, and a whole variety of spiritual practices.
And since we’re doing this AS a community, I want you to know about a couple of resources that you can use during this series. We’re going to give you a daily scripture and reflection to help us grow in the practice of discernment. You’ll be able to set aside about 15 minutes a day to just have this time to connect with God, and listen for what God’s voice is saying through these readings and time of prayer. This might be a new practice for 2026 or it might be a continuation of a practice you already do, but either way, this simple act of intentionally carving out time for scripture and prayer can have a big impact on our ability to perceive God’s work in and around us.
To wrap up this series, on Feb. 7-8 we have something really special planned. Ruth Haley Barton will be here at St. Luke’s to lead a retreat that Saturday and speak in worship that Sunday. We will have the chance to gather in person together at our North Indy Campus that Saturday and then we will stream her in on Sunday here at Midtown. I’ve gotten to see her speak before, and she is so full of wisdom and love and I am just so excited that she’s coming to St. Luke’s!
All of these tools, this extended time of learning and practicing discernment...it’s all with the hope that we will begin this new year with a new way of taking action and living out our faith. One last thing about this story...did you notice how at the very end, Jesus says something sort of odd to the man who he has just healed? He tells him no to go back into the village. Now, I don’t know if he means FOREVER, or just for a minute...and I’m not 100% sure WHY he would tell him this.
But my guess is...that the man who he heals? He knows. And my guess is that this part of he and Jesus’ exchange...that this is a chance for him to live out his newfound sight. Not his PHYSICAL sight, but his SPIRITUAL sight. There’s something for him to discern here, and it’s almost like Jesus is saying—you’ve spent time with me, now you can go and live with a more discerning and perceptive spirit.
That’s my prayer for us in this new year. That we could go and live with a more discerning and perceptive spirit. That we could be open to listening and responding to God in new ways, maybe even ways that take us by surprise. In ways that are going to require trust. And in ways that remind us of God’s faithfulness to us.
As we go to the Communion table today, we remember that faithfulness. And to center our hearts, both for receiving communion and at the start of a new year, I want to invite us to say the Wesley Covenant Prayer together. All across the world, on this Sunday, Methodist congregations pray this prayer. And I think with our focus on discernment, there’s no better way to start our year together.
Will you pray with me outloud:
I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it also be made in heaven. Amen.