On Listening

My Friends,

Greetings to you in the name of our most amazing savior, Jesus Christ. I once read a wonderful book called “The Lost Art of Listening” that changed how I approach the subject of listening. I did this because I wanted to do better in the communications that I was having with other people. Right as I finished the book, within seconds, I received a phone call and I knew that this was my time to start applying what I had learned. I was so excited and as I was reaching for my phone I slipped. The phone flew out of my hand along with the book right into the lake that I was reading next to and no listening wound up happening. The phone was not salvageable. The book was a little wet but it turned out all right. I had to postpone applying what I had learned, but I was champing at the bit to show God’s love to people by listening to what they had to say.

I remembered this story, and laughed a little bit at myself, as I was starting to do research for this Sunday’s sermon, which is largely based around listening. Specifically, we are going to be talking about listening in relation to answering how God calls us. So, in preparation for Sunday I invite you to think about the best experiences that you have had around listening. Were you the one who was hearing? Were you the one being heard? What made these times stick out in your mind as being important?

I ask you to do this because I am more and more convinced that listening is at the core of almost everything that we do in our Christian life. How do we discern what God is telling us without listening? How do we share love with other people if we do not take the time to listen to them? I am not sure that we can. We need to be listening to God and to others to become the disciples that we are called to be. I hope that these words reach you well.

Many Blessings,
Pastor Stuart