October 25, 2026
Dialing It In
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Shannon Jordan
Ecclesiastes 5:
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools, for they do not know how to keep from doing evil.2Never be rash with your mouth nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few. 3 For dreams come with many cares, and a fool’s voice with many words. 4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words and destroy the work of your hands? 7 With many dreams come vanities and a multitude of words, but fear God.
We are into our third week of a sermon series on Ecclesiastes. About 25 of the women in the church are also about six weeks into a Bible study on it. When I read this passage the first several times, the reverberation that I kept hearing was the importance of listening more than we talk. (I have been hearing that message since I first got a report card in elementary school–to listen more than I talk…) We are called in this passage to learn to listen to God and to not talk like a fool…and the importance of remembering who is speaking to us–the all powerful God who created the world and loves each one of us deeply.
The image that came to mind is the radio that was in my first car as a 16 year old. I drove my parents’old 1973 metallic chocolate brown Chevy Impala station wagon. I wore a seatbelt because as I went around corners I would slide down the bench seat. And to listen to the radio with its “in the windshield antennae” we had to be on a street facing the general location of the radio waves. Added to that, to tune in to our radio stations, you had to use the tuner knob. Like all “girls just want to have fun” in Hickory in the early 80’s, I listened to XROC 96… except it wasn’t really 96, it was 95.7 and those three tenths of a point were the difference between static and Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and Blondie’s Call Me. My ten best friends and I who could fit in the boat I drove, worked hard to figure out how to hear our tunes while we drove to the Windy City Grille for a burger.
This morning I want us to reflect on our own ways for dialing into God’s power and majesty in a way that we can hear what God has to say to us. Ecclesiastes is all about what doesn’t work–the writer says he tried it all, and it didn’t work. Here he is saying what does–worshipping God with a listening ear.
If you were inviting someone to worship here on a Sunday morning, you would probably need to tell them where to park, which door to come in, where you would meet them in the building. You would tell them what to wear, what to expect in worship, and maybe prep others here to be welcoming of your friend or neighbor. I have seen all of these things play out countless times.
At first read, this text from Ecclesiastes this morning could look like instructions for early Temple goers. It is good to come and listen. Don’t talk much. Don’t make a vow. Don’t act like you know what you are talking about if you don’t. A quick skim that you read over, looking for something that you don’t know yet–because we already knew this. This morning I am going to invite all of us to dial it in a little closer.
The first phrase “Guard your step when you go to the house of God;” is actually really rich with Hebrew meaning. It is literally to watch your feet…and a warning that you are physically on holy ground. This can be heard as an echo back to the story of Moses and the burning bush. This was Moses’ call story. If you remember, he was a shepherd in the wilderness, and a bush had flames in it, but it wasn’t burning. God told him to take off his sandals because he was on holy ground. After Moses removed his sandals, God told Moses from the burning bush, that God had heard the people’s cries and that Moses was going to lead the people from slavery in Egypt into the promised land. This is a beautiful reminder that God can and does find us even in the wilderness, even when we aren’t looking. It is a reminder that even though we come to this sanctuary/chapel to worship each week and only sometimes do we feel like we are leaving with a message from God, the purpose isn’t just about receiving a message, but showing reverence to an all powerful God because God deserves it.
The PCUSA Book of Order describes worship this way:
Christian worship gives all glory and honor, praise and thanksgiving to the holy, triune God. We are gathered in worship to glorify the God who is present and active among us— particularly through the gifts of Word and Sacrament. We are sent out in service to glorify the same God who is present and active in the world.
When we come here together it is to give ALL glory and honor, praise and thanksgiving to the holy, triune God. God is present with us. THIS is holy ground. We light the Christ Candle each week as a visual reminder that Christ is present.
We are here to give God all glory and honor, praise and thanksgiving.
For some of us it may be a gentle reminder, and for others a new concept, but the Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard suggested that my job, David’s job, Patrick’s job, the scripture reader’s job, the choir’s job, is to prompt you in your worship. To help you remember who God is and why we are called to align our lives with God’s will…in the words of Ecclesiastes, because all else is hevel, vanity. Vapor. Mist. You aren’t here as an audience, but to worship God. God is the audience. [1]
Take a minute to let that sink in. God is your audience this morning. God can hear and understand your thoughts, as well as the pain, challenges, experiences, and personality that got you where you are. If you are angry with someone. God knows why. If you are tired and having a hard time focusing, God knows and understands why. God has compassion for us. We come to worship God. To show God the appropriate awe and reverence. To have an attitude of humility, recognizing the reality of God.
All of that is in the first few words of our passage…the next phrase, “draw near to listen” has similar weight. A faithful Jewish person being invited to listen would have brought to mind another pivotal scripture attributed to Moses, that was and still is bedrock for Jews, the Shema. Faithful Jews then and now cite this prayer morning and night. Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. This prayer continues with stating the importance of the scripture, and the importance of teaching scripture to children. Scripture is to be a part of their and our daily lives. It is so important that some Jews cover their eyes as they recite the first verse to “hear” God better. Many of us know pieces of this because it is found in Mark 12 and then pieces of it Matthew and Luke.
Our writer this morning very much wants people to listen to God. Not just hear God, but hear God and then to do what God is saying to do.
What does this look like? Like Moses whose workday was interrupted at the burning bush, we have jobs, we have responsibilities, we have worries and concerns, and all of these can be popping around our brain. It can be hard to turn that off when we sit down in worship. Sometimes when we sit down to worship, that is when we remember that thing we really don’t want to forget. How do we come in and show God the awe and adoration God deserves?
For me, it is by practicing during the week. I have said often that on Sundays we are practicing for what we do the rest of the week…worship, confession, reading scripture, praying for people, living out our faith. But our setting time aside during the week for silence, for reflection, for sitting in the presence of a holy God who loves us–that helps us find that place of grounding, and be able to access it more quickly during difficult times. This hour on Sunday mornings shouldn’t be the only time during the week that we turn our eyes to Jesus. We can practice dialing it in during the week. When we practice this place of grounding and connection during the week, it is easier on Sundays, and Sundays can help us during the week.
It can be as brief as noticing an invitation from God to see something and it gives us the opportunity to stop and take a moment or two to offer God praise and thanksgiving. My cover photo was taken at Yosemite a few years ago at sunrise. It is a spectacular place with beauty all around. The beauty this morning with the snow was indeed awe inspiriting. As I was standing there, I noticed the sun starting to paint El Capitan and it was if God was saying, “You think it is beautiful now, I can make it even more so.” My photo is my way of worshipping God and saying thank you. It is an example of why I call my photography Camera Prayers.
Our prayer practices can help us find this connection. Matthew encourages us to go to a quiet place to pray. Like Ecclesiastes, Jesus reminds us that prayer’s power does not depend on how much we say. More words, with a sprinkling of thees and thous, don’t increase our chance of our prayers being answered the way we want. For me this passage encourages me to take my heart’s desires to God and then to let go and trust God with the outcome. God already knows what we need and still invites us to bring our hearts. We can trust a God who loves us even when the outcome is painful or beyond our understanding. Having a daily prayer time isn’t about earning positive answers in prayer, but about taking time daily to remember who God is and to dial in and to be with God. It reminds us to take our promises to God seriously and follow through on what we say. Being in God’s presence in an intentional way and learning to recognize that presence in quiet places can help us notice it in noisier spaces. We can find the notes of a favorite song in the midst of static and dial it in.
If we listen carefully to these passages, we can hear the echoes of God denouncing meaningless worship in Amos 5 and calling for justice to roll down like an ever flowing stream or Micah 6’s call to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God. We do these things, we accept these calls on our life when we stand on holy ground and listen to God like Moses did at the burning bush.
The study of Ecclesiastes has really helped me recognize the hevel moments…those moments that are like vapor–like the fog in the valley at sunrise. It doesn’t stay like that, but it is beautiful to see and it can be a reminder to praise God. These liminal moments are where the glory of God breaks through the static of our lives a little bit and invites us in.
Can you think of a time that has happened to you? A moment with another person that is holy. Maybe a moment when you have experienced the magnitude of our Creator God? A moment where you experienced the deep and abiding love of God? At the birth of a child? While holding vigil with someone while they die. A moment of human connection serving at Saturday Sanctuary? Holding a baby? I invite you to try and notice those. To take a moment, or more, to stop, breathe, and thank God. To recognize the power and vastness and the faithfulness of God.
Ecclesiastes tells us that we can get distracted by so many things. There are so many things that pull at us that are meaningless and useless. Our lives can get more and more noisy–more and more can pull at us. Coming here to worship, finding a quiet place to pray, stopping to notice the light on a mountain or giving someone our full attention, can help us dial in. We practice remembering who God is, recognizing God’s presence, and listening for how God is calling us to live.
Back in that metallic brown Chevy Impala station wagon that sat 11 people, turning the dial didn’t make the station start broadcasting. It helped us to hear what was already there. And our worship, our prayer, our moments of attention help us recognize the God who is already present and working among us.
This week, I invite you to pause somewhere in the middle of your ordinary life. Notice. Offer thanks. Bring God what is on your heart. Leave room to listen and consider how you might respond.
The God we approach with awe is also the God who can find us in the wilderness, it is the God who formed us in our mother’s wombs, knows us and loves us. Draw near and listen.
Amen.
[1]https://www.religion-online.org/book-chapter/chapter-12-what-then-must-i-do-the-listeners-role-in-a-devotional-address/?utm_source=chatgpt.com