Learning to Listen

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor killed by the Nazis for his resistance to Hitler, understood Jesus’ primary message: “The first service one owes to others in a community involves listening to them. Just as our love for God begins with listening to God’s Word, the beginning of love for others is learning to listen to them, to their story, to their words…We do God’s work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them.” [1]

As our biblical grounding image, I want us to start with a text we call the Transfiguration. You know it, I am sure: Jesus standing with two icons of the Jewish faith, Moses and Elijah, and three who would become icons of the Christian faith: Peter, James, and John. As usual, Peter did a lot of unnecessary talking. Luke described it as Peter “not knowing what he said.” The contrast was another voice, a memorable word from the cloud, the voice of Abba, who thundered what may have been a rebuke to Peter but gave a word for all who hunger and thirst to go deep. Do you remember the sentence? “This is my Son, my Chosen…” and then three words to burn into our hearts, “…listen to him.”  (Luke 9:35)

At the core of our spirituality, three simple and yet stunning words: listen to him.

The word listen or hear includes the root for another clarifying word, obey. To hear, to listen is to obey. God was emphatic with the disciples: This is my son. Listen to him and give ear to this revelation. 

When Luke uses the word, it means “to answer the door.”  To listen is more than acoustical; it means to obey in practical terms—to act upon what is heard.  It is worth saying again: Growth doesn’t happen by accident, osmosis, inheritance, or chance. It happens through the spirituality of listening.

Dan Allender writes, “Few listen well…Listening requires a heart that is humble enough to move slowly through the cadence of another’s speech. It requires the courage to risk asking and then the even greater risk of waiting for patterns to occur that illumine what is being said. Listening is the holy work of attuning one’s soul to the accumulation of meaning that comes only to those who tend to speech like a midwife. It is art and skill, knowledge and wisdom.” [2]

Listening is perhaps the single most necessary skill for spiritual formation.

• “Hear oh Israel…” Listen to God.
• “Love your neighbor.”  Listen to others.
• “…be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”  Listen to your soul.
• “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”  Listen for the voice of God resonating in scripture.  `

 

If you want to go deep, listen.
If you want to grow deep, listen.
If you’re going to practice obedience, listen.

 

 

[1]Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community.

[2]Keith R, Anderson, A Spirituality of Listening, Foreword.