Listen.

Written by Rev. Dr. Melodie Jones Pointon, Eastridge Presbyterian Church

Listen.

Since the earliest of days, when Genesis tells us that the newly created humanity heard the Lord God in the garden of Eden, the sense of hearing, listening, communicating has been an important way to feel the divine presence.  It's so important that listening becomes a repeated refrain, with the Hebrew word "shema" being used so often in the Hebrew scriptures that it's difficult to count.  It can mean listen.  It can mean obey.  It always means pay attention and use that sense of hearing to listen and feel (in a way of knowing) the presence of the divine among us.  Whether it's to the people of God gathered at the base of the mountain in the desert (Deuteronomy 6:4), or the prophetic writings of Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, or the baptism of Jesus when a dove descends and the divine speaks.  In my Christian tradition, listening is a very important way to know the divine.

We don't live in a world that listens very well.  Of course, I blame social media for the division only algorithms can produce.  That's our current medium for division and strife to continue to separate and divide.  Don't like what you're seeing on social media?  Well, there's an easy fix for that!  Just jump to a different platform and you can find people who agree with you.  In the end, though, it's all still just chatter, in 30 second sound bites. If we're honest with ourselves, though, we only need to look at our human history to know that divisions happen without social media. 

Listening is counter-cultural, and according to our sacred texts, prophetic.  Prophetic here meaning the "good trouble" Representative John Lewis taught us to be up to.  It's a sort of holy chaos (Richard Rohr's term) that has the potential to re-order, re-structure, and adapt. It's one of the many reasons I am dedicated to the listening session process that begins our annual cycle for Justice in Action.  I love to tell other pastors about the holy spaces that are created when members of our faith communities invite their friends to gather together and listen to each other.  In our questions and intentional listening, we move past the niceties of "how are you today" to share what is weighing on our hearts and minds, what is keeping us up at night, what drives us to tears. 

Speaking the truth is the first step to recognizing the shared pains and hurts that bind us together in the common human experience, which is the beginning of the good trouble of holy chaos.  In his most recent book, The Tears of Things, author Richard Rohr elaborates on this important act by saying, "We need to stop being surprised or shocked by reality and recognize that evil flourishes best when it is denied.  Evil relies on being considered rational, necessary, and expedient by otherwise good people."  He continues, "You can't see what your group can't see.  But once you "out the demon" (the real hidden problem) in any group or on any issue it loses much of its potency."[1]  What we participate in is a process that gives us context for the holy potential of the chaos we are currently experiencing. 

Now I have to use that word - the p word - because prophetic acts are political.  A google graph tells me that over the past 100 years this word has been used more to divide and label us than to bring us together.  A friend recently shared with me that he believes this word is used when what we're saying makes others uncomfortable.  In this act we are discovering what is happening in each other’s lives, and it will likely make us uncomfortable - holy, divinely, uncomfortable (he said with a wry smile).

Political is does not inherently carry a positive or negative value.  It simply means how people living in community make decisions for the whole group.  Being political becomes an act of divine love out of a holy space of listening, as we live faithfully through acts of mercy and justice.  "Any social analysis is still called by some “mixing politics with religion,” Richard Rohr writes. "But that’s exactly what the prophets do. They call out the collective, not just the individual, as a way of seeking the common good and assuring us that some common good might just be possible."[2] 

The invitation that comes to you this fall is to participate in the prophetic act of listening for the divine as we listen to each other.  There may be laughter, tears, anger, caring which will likely make us uncomfortable.  There will be the mingling of the human and the divine as we share our connections as people of faith.  Out of these moments, together we will be motivated - even called - to the prophetic political work of making our community a more just society. 

As we enter these holy spaces this fall, please consider accepting that invitation or even asking if you can attend a listening session.  My experience is that they will take your breath away with the prophetic act of listening. 

I want to end with the words of Joseph T. Kelly from an article he wrote for "A Faith That Does Justice" called Synod and Shema.  He says, "Listening does not always mean agreement. It does not mean we discard our thoughtful positions or deep convictions. Listening does not make problems and disagreements disappear. True listening means that despite our shortcomings and our sins, and because of our faith, we engage one another, explain and explore our differences. Guided and strengthened by God’s grace, we move forward in a shared search for understanding, judgment and decision."[3]

            May we each find the divine presence in our listening this fall. 

            - written by Rev. Dr. Melodie Jones Pointon, Eastridge Presbyterian Church

[1] Rohr, Richard. The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage (p. xvi). (Function). Kindle Edition.

[2] Rohr, Richard. The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage (p. xxii). (Function). Kindle Edition.

[3] https://faith-justice.org/voice-and-perspective/synod-and-shema/