Learning to Give Jesus the Floor

In a surprising turn of events, I did not end up preaching on Easter Sunday a few years ago. Jesus had a different plan. Despite my efforts to prepare well for this pinnacle event in the life of the church, I was struggling with what direction to take the Easter sermon. I shared my challenges with a colleague and, through the course of our conversation, he tentatively offered to preach for me on Easter Sunday. I thanked him for his kind offer but considered it a non-starter. I got off the phone with him and my wife, Lisa, asked me what the phone call was about.

“Can you believe it? Nathan offered to preach for me next Sunday. I told him there was no way.”

Without a second thought, Lisa asked: “Why not?”

“What do you mean, ‘why not?’ – it’s Easter Sunday!?”

“So. Why does that matter?”

“Uh. Is this a trick question? Because it’s Easter Sunday…and I’m the Lead Pastor, and this is the biggest Sunday of the year!”

“I don’t see why that matters. Jeremy, you say all the time to our church family that you are not the Head of the Church, that Jesus is…so I don’t think it matters who the messenger is—what matters is that people hear from Jesus.”

“I know and you have got a great point…but perhaps it would help if I said this a little more slowly. It’s E-a-s-t-e-r.”

Undeterred, Lisa said: “We should go to listening prayer and ask Jesus about this.”

“Ok, but is He not going to just tell us it’s Easter…?”

So, we went to prayer and I said something like, “Jesus, I am shocked to be having this conversation with you. I am surprised Lisa thinks you might want Nathan to preach on Easter Sunday. Should she not know better? But it is not my church. It is Your church. And You can have whatever You want. So, what are You saying, Jesus? Who are You assigning the task of preaching next weekend?”

During the silence, two stories came to mind. One related to a comment card we had received just that morning in which the person had written:

“For the first time we really feel that this is not the ‘pastor’s church’ with the pastor’s vision leading the way. Instead, this is Jesus’ church, and He is leading the way.”

Hmm.

The second story related to a time when Lisa was reassigned to work on a particular unit, even though the supervising co-worker who normally worked that floor was present and available. Despite the objections from this co-worker that this was her floor and that Lisa should be placed on a different floor, the Head Nurse firmly stated: “I am the one who directs the workflow of this facility, and I am the one who assigned Lisa to that unit. End of story.”

Lisa and I both knew what Jesus was saying. This was His church and He was the One choosing to redirect the workflow. Jesus is the Head, and He can have whatever He wants.

We have been on a journey over the past eight years of learning what it means for Jesus to be the Functional Head of His Church in St. Albert, seeking to invite Him to give real-time leadership and direction in the church where we serve. We continue to cultivate some habits in our team meetings—to keep us attentive to the wisdom and counsel of Jesus—so that He can regularly direct our workflow.

Habit #1. Be looking for places to invite His input. Sometimes we do not actively look for opportunities to invite Jesus’ input on the decisions before us. We often open and close our meetings with prayer but, in-between, Jesus’ direct input can go missing. We have learned to expect that Jesus will want to have the floor at various points in our discussion. We anticipate that we will need to stop our conversation in order to give Him space to speak—by practicing listening prayer together.

 Habit #2. If an opinion is being shared, invite Jesus to share His as well. As a team leader, I work intentionally to try to ensure everyone at the table has an opportunity to speak to whatever it is we are discussing. Along the journey, the simple habit we have cultivated is that, whenever we are having a discussion where we are sharing on a topic, we try to make sure we create space for Jesus to share. If we are discussing the same topic for more than 30-45 minutes, it is probably time to stop the conversation and check in with Jesus for any further insight, counsel, or direction. 

Habit #3. Use the why question. After listening for Jesus’ initial thoughts on something, if we need further insight to help us discern whether it is truly His voice we are hearing, we ask why. We have found that through asking Jesus why, we often receive additional insight that helps affirm that we really are hearing His voice and often solidifies our way forward. Time after time, we come away from meetings with such a strong sense that it seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit. Some pretty amazing things—and surprising things—happen when we give Jesus space to be the Functional Head of the Church. Sometimes Jesus even redirects the workflow for an Easter service.