Everyone loves the show “The Voice,” now in its 22^nd season in the US. The show is exciting not only because of its fabulous music, competitive spirit, and engaged crowd, but because it catapults everyday people who love to sing into possible fame and stardom. At the very least, it gives them stage time in front of the entire country and a shot at something more.

Every week hundreds of thousands of Americans gather around their televisions, phones, or computers to watch not just the singers but the bantering between the judges and the reactions of the crowds. What do we love most? Those heartfelt moments when someone’s dream comes true. With tears streaming down their faces and ours, we celebrate with them. In a sense, their big moment is also the confirmation of our own hopes, the belief that anyone’s dream really can come true.

The “Voice” is that voice which stands out from the crowd, the one that’s unique, heart-wrenching, and moving and uplifts us with its raw emotion and power. We are captivated by the voices that move us. That extra special voice lures us, mesmerizes us, intrigues us, engages us. We become loyal to that voice and vie for that person to win!

“The Voice” winner isn’t just a judge pick but a crowd pleaser, an unanimously voted-for individual, the one who has won us over with the beauty and resonance of “that amazing voice!”As the winner gets a shot at a long-harbored dream, we dream too. Whether or not we ourselves sing, we live vicariously through the victories of the triumphant and rejoice in the fulfillment of the dreams of these others. This “voice” is our voice. That win is our win.

True resonance is not just a matter of sound. It’s the movement of our heart strings. But it starts with the sound of a voice, that poignant medium of human connection.

We as humans respond to each other’s voices in ways that are much more powerful than the ways we respond to any other sounds. Our pitch, our tone, our frequency all reveal something about what we are feeling and want to convey. Scientists at Berkeley say, humans can detect 24 kinds of emotions just in the human voice.[1] We know that must be true, because when we talk to babies, we may not speak in language, but we alter our voice to initiate a kind of bonding tone. When we sing, we pour into our songs and hymns a kind of emotional reverence that spellbinds others and creates in them a similar reverence and feeling of divine connection.

The voice, sound created by the movement of air through a windpipe and the subsequent vibration of a set of vocal chords, is an intricate and beautiful conveyor of expression and communication.[2] We are in a sense programmed to receive each other and bond with each other through the vehicle of voice. When our voices connect, our hearts resonate.

How beautiful and wonderful then is Jesus’ metaphor for God’s call to us –his voice. Through Jesus’ voice, we know God is there. We can connect with God, communicate with God, enter into relationship with God, and bond with God through the vehicle of Jesus’ voice. Why? Because, as Jesus tells us, He and the Father are One.  Jesus’ voice is God’s voice, the life-giving voice of the Creator himself!

Throughout scripture, God’s voice represents the powerful, creative Spirit that breathes life into all of creation and into our very existence. We live because God’s voice and breath fills us and animates us. From the “voice” that calls the waters and heavens into existence to the sound of the ram’s horn calling God’s people to prayer, God’s voice sends shivers down our spines and seeps into our bones, because God’s “voice” is that hope-evoking and life-giving force that we recognize as both our source and sustenance. God’s voice is comforting. God’s voice is uplifting. God’s voice is challenging. God’s voice is beckoning. Somewhere deep inside of us, God’s voice resonates within us, moves us to tears, pulls at our heartstrings, and calls us to follow. And we do, praising and celebrating the victory of the Lamb! The power of the Shepherd!

In our scripture for today, Jesus evokes the allure of that all-powerful voice to describe the way in which his followers recognize him as Messiah, the voice and command of God.

Jesus’ “sheep,” those who are powerless, hopeless, voiceless, who seek identity and belonging, through him now belong to the heavenly fold of God, for they will adore His voice and follow him, even as he rises to his highest stature at God’s right hand.

Jesus gathers the outcasts, the lonely, the downtrodden, the infirm, the marginalized, the lost, the scattered, the confused and restores to them an identity, a meaning, a purpose, and a place. They “listen to his voice.” He “knows them.” “They follow him.” And he will “give them eternal life.” No one is able to snatch them away, because Jesus’ voice is the very voice of God resonating within them, raising them up along with him with the power and promise of his voice. Dry bones to marrow. His voice is their DNA.

For those without a voice, Jesus’ voice is the one they know as life-giving, hope-giving, dream-fulfilling, and future-establishing. They resonate with the beauty, compassion, and gentleness of his voice. God’s voice, Jesus’ voice, is compelling and powerful. He moves them and encourages them, uplifts them and assures them. He heals them and comforts them, promises them and touches them with the power and intimacy of that life-giving voice.

God’s dream is their dream. God’s plan is their plan. God’s promise is their promise. God’s victory is their victory. It all culminates through Jesus.

“The Voice” of God.

Today, I invite you, I challenge you to listen for that voice in your heart and in your life. So often, we spend all of our time talking. When we pray, we ask. In fact, sometimes, we demand God’s attention to our own wants and desires, even though when we pray the Lord’s prayer, we ask that God’s will and not our own be done.

Today instead, let us listen. For our future lies in the hope of God’s mission coming true, in God’s voice winning over the tumult of the world.

Listen to the sound of God’s voice in the wind.

Listen to the sound of God’s voice in your head.

Listen to the sound of God’s voice as you breathe in and out.

Listen to the sound of God’s voice through the whir of the fan and the rustling of the leaves on the trees.

Let the voice of Jesus resonate in your heart and move you to a greater and deeper faith.

Then and only then will you hear the message God has for you and your life.

Only then will you know the excitement and the joy and the victory that Jesus has wrought on your behalf.

May your heart overflow with the joy and knowledge of God.

And may your own voice sing with the symphony that is God’s creative Spirit.

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