Will we hear God from "unpersuasive"and "unimpressive" people?

Once upon a time, a mentor found it necessary to write some pretty firm letters to his friends and proteges in another city:

"You'll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God's master stroke, I didn't try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified.

"I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate—I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it—and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God's Spirit and God's power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God's power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else."

Then later:

"It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything.

"I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from [another country]. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us.

"And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special.

The mentor was the apostle Paul, the proteges lived in the Greek city of Corinth. (see 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 and 2 Corinthians 11:4-13, The Message Bible) Corinth was like...us. Cosmopolitan, influential, multicultural, a center of business and power. They liked their visiting evangelists and "special music" people and megachurch preachers, apparently. Paul reminded them that God started them off with his power and presence, not with audio/video/powerpoint flash-bang.

God uses dumb people (that means us, says Paul) to confuse smart people, then and now. Lord, make us stupid.

Lord, forgive me for seeing the spectacular instead of the sacred.
Draw my eyes to you, my ears to your voice;
sharpen my ears to your sound in the stillness, not the fury,
through the voices of the weak, the very young, the plain, the ugly.

Lord, give us new eyes;
communal, not individual,
spiritual, not physical,
seeking, not wandering,
looking instead of glancing.

(Thanks to Chris Cahill of the St. Pete Vineyard for reminding me of Paul's caution to the Americans of his time...)
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