Listening

I grab my keys and my bag full of stuff while making sure that I have my cell phones before I head out of the door every day.  And yes I did say phones plural.  

I recently got a blackberry.  Although I know I do not utilize it as well as most do, still I love it.  I am able to text anyone I want, or email people at anytime.  I never even have to use it as a phone to be able to communicate with people. That of course is the way our entire society is.  We communicate now through face-book and twitter, and never even have to hear the voice of the people that we are talking too.

So convenient.  I have to wonder though, what we are missing  with this form of communication taking over our lives?  (Yes I see the irony of saying this through a blog. Still the question is valid, however.)

I really began thinking about this as I traveled with a group of ladies to a larger city to watch The Church Basement Ladies: A Second Helping.  I sat in a van with about 7 other women and I just listened as they talked to each other.  For a person coming into a community what I learned was helpful, as a minister of God’s word, it is invaluable.  Only by listening can I know which of these women act as leaders, and which are content to follow.  Only through listening could I have heard the catch in the voices when the words stated facts that appeared innocuous.  Listening helped me learn about the history of not only the women in the car with me, but about the history of the communities and the congregations that they are part of.  

In my average mad rush to be out the door, to Do all the things that need to be done, do I listen enough?  

This is not just a nice question to keep in mind for relational ministry.  It is a vital aspect to who we are as people of Christ.  The concept of listening is deeply rooted into who we are.  In fact our Jewish ancestors were called to faith with the Hebrew word sh(e)ma/listen.  Listen Israel, God is the Lord, God is one.  Listen.  This word for the Hebrew people means so much more than just to hear the words.  It means to know, to feel, to understand.  It goes into the substance of who they are.  This is the heritage that we come from.  

Let those who have ears to hear, hear.  In other words listen.  Know that Jesus is the Christ.  Jesus is calling us to listen in the same way that God called the Israelites.  Jesus is calling us to listen to him, to our God, and to each other.  After all how can we serve our neighbor if we cannot hear their suffering through our own busy-ness. 

So as we reach for the keys, the phones, the computer, as we rush to check off the next chore, the next meeting, the next good deed, remember that we are called to listen.  Be still and Know that I am God.   Stop your business and listen to God’s voice, know that God is with us.  Still your heart, your mind, and know that God is our Lord, and that God is one.