Putting God on a celestial do-not-call registry

Confession is good for the soul, so I must confess; I was rude to a young woman who just called our home trying to get me to accept something free or almost free. I wasn’t rude rude, if you know what I mean, but I was simply rude. After all she was just trying to do her job, trying to make a living, work is work and she really didn’t need an old man making her life a little more complicated. I’m keenly aware that she probably works for a base salary (probably minimum wage) and gets a bonus for every “positive” contact that she makes. So, I apology to all telemarketers out there who are just trying to make a living at my expense of time and energy … trying put food on the table … trying to make ends meet.

All I said was, “I’m not interested.” It caused her to pause, probably to move to the next page and her next set of questions. She kicked into her next phase of the spiel – her well-rehearsed spiel – and I interrupted her again with, “I’m not interested.” Again a pause, and off she went again in another direction … I interrupted again with a question of my own, “What part of ‘I’m not interested’ don’t you understand?” This caused her to stammer, catch her breath, back up and come at me again with a little more force. And, again, with a little more emphasis, I asked, “What part of ‘I’m not interested’ don’t you understand?” “But sir,” she replied, “I don’t think that you fully appreciate what I am offering.” And with that I shared that the next sound you will hear is brought to you by AT&T …, which was the dial tone. I will confess that I was rude, but after all we are on the national do-not-call registry.

On other occasions I have taken the time to request the callers name, phone number and company for which they work. They will finally ask as to why I want this information I will simply inform them that our phone numbers are registered with the national do-not-call registry and if anyone from their company ever bothers us again I will not hesitate in filling a compliant with the registry. I’m not really sure that I would actually do that because it could cause the telemarketer to lose their job and a heavy fine to the call center. After all, they are just trying to do a job.

All of this did get me to wondering if we do this with God. We call him up through prayer and/or meditation and start our spiel. If he decided to interrupt our one-sided conversation would we hear him? Would we understand him? Would we even care that he was trying to get through to us? Would we, could we, fully appreciate what he is offering?

One Christmas Eve, I purposely carried my cell phone with me into the pulpit. At a predetermined point in the sermon I had instructed my daughter to call me. At first I tried to ignore the ringing phone since I knew that it would go to voice mail, but my instructions were to keep calling. I even made a show of “turning off” the ringer, but the phone kept ringing. Finally, I excused myself and answered the phone. The conversation kind of took the congregation by surprise because the call was from God and he really wanted me to tell the assembled congregation something rather important. My comment was, “You want me to tell them what? But, Sir, they won’t believe it? Yes, Sir, I understand that I’m your servant, but really that is kind of a strong message.” I have to admit it was kind of tacky, but hey, it worked.

I ended the phone call, by that time the congregation got the little joke, but then I went on to ask, “If that had really been from God how would we have responded?” The entire message of Emmanuel is that God is trying to communicate to us a very important message with an unbelievable offer. Do we really care or are we caught up in our own little agendas that we cannot be bothered or take the time to listen? Is the conversation all one sided … trying to get said what we want to say and then get on with the rest of our lives?

Is it possible to be rude to God? Have we ever thought about our attitude, our reaction to God as boarding on just being rude? If you are like me, and I hope that you are not, there is a lot of interrupting, trying to put a footnote on what we hear him saying, trying to explain that what he is asking from us isn’t really practical … and always asking, “What part of ‘I’m not interested’ don’t you understand?” And still he is there the next time we go to him in prayer. Always ready to listen, but also very eager to share his hopes and plans and purpose for out lives. Do we really care or do we attempt to place ourselves on the celestial do-not-call list?

Again, confession is good for the soul … I have a strong tendency to follow the “get-in-and-get-out” technique of prayer. I tell God what I want him to hear and then fail to take the time to listen to him. I’ve kind of made our relationship a “don’t-call-me-I’ll-call-you” concept. And, I speak from experience … sometimes, painful experience … it doesn’t work to good!

Quote for today: The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. ~C.S. Lewis