Authentic listening as a disciple of Jesus involves expressing confusion well. It is so easy as a disciple of Jesus to have what I call a sudo-stance on the things of faith. It’s a bit like the primary school teacher saw one oh her class was wearing a Fitbit watch. This prompted the teacher wife to ask, “Are you tracking your steps?” “No,” said the little girl. “I wear this for Mommy so she can show Daddy when he gets home.”
The importance of authentic faith starts with authentic listening. Hebrews 2:3 puts it this way, “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation, which was first declared by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him?”
Listening deeply, authentically, truthfully means silencing the noise, listening not just with your ears but with every sense you’ve got, every cell in your body. It means listening to all that is said and unsaid, to the body language, the tone, the eye movement. It’s full-body listening. This type of listening builds trust, opens doors, and offers a path to deep discovery and a sacred connection that forms the basis for new understandings and otherwise unimaginable possibilities.
Study after study shows in sector after sector—in medicine, marriage, real estate sales, and more—that true listening generates better results. And yet most of us go through our entire education without having learned how to do it.
The church is in the business of sharing the truth of Jesus authentically and this means first, sincere listening and truthful telling.
God of silence and God of all sound,
help me to listen.
Help me to do the deep listening
to the sounds of my soul,
waiting to hear your soft voice
calling me deeper into you.
Give me attentive ears
that begin to separate the noise
from the sounds that are you;
you who have been speaking to me
and through me my whole life,
for so long that
you can seem like background noise.
Today help me hear you anew. Amen
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