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Sermon February 23, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Last Sunday after the Epiphany
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Epiphany/AEpiLast_RCL.html
Audio
While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ Matthew 17:5
Please be seated.
Did any of you ever heard, especially from a teacher in school, “God gave you two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you should speak.”? This quote is attributed to the Greek Philosopher Epicetus who died in the year 138, so it has been around for awhile.
When I was in seminary, a book entitled Right Listening by Mark Brady was recommended. It contains 52 recommendations for becoming a good listener. Some I thought were helpful when it comes to listening to Jesus or listening to God included:
First and foremost, talk less. We tend to lead very busy and full lives. When and how can we devote time to being quiet and listening for God? I know this is tough. We’ve all been in situations in a group where there is a period of silence and usually someone jumps in and talks. Many of us find silence uncomfortable. Yet, we need to find some way, maybe walking the labyrinth or taking a walk, to create a space to listen to Jesus.
Practice Being with Silence is important. Brady writes:
In silence, we can listen and discover what’s required to live more fully. MIT organizational scientist and co-author of “Presence” by Peter Senge identified this as “generative listening” – the art of developing deeper silences that work to slow the mind’s hearing to the ear’s natural speed. (p. 27)
Another practice is “Pay Attention to the Need to Control.” Many of us are afraid of “losing control.” We feel we must be in charge. We evidence this need when we interrupt someone or talk over someone who is talking. This need to control is often evident in our faith lives. We’re not always sure what God will ask of us. We don’t always like what we hear from Jesus. We want to be in control.
Another challenging practice is to listen for meaning, not delivery. We want Jesus to speak to us the way we want to hear him. None of that overturning the tables in the temple. That’s so rude and disruptive. And why does Jesus keep talking about the poor, the widows, those in prison? We often want messages delivered in a way that is pleasing to us.
Regularly practice kenosis is an interesting and important practice. Kenosis is a Greek word meaning to empty oneself. This may sound familiar. An early hymn of the church found in the letter to the Philippians says:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness. Philippians 2:5-7
Listening to Jesus requires us to empty our hearts and our minds of our own agendas or even our reflexive ways of listening or understanding. We empty ourselves to be open to something new.
This past week, I heard a powerful story from a man who truly listened to Jesus’ teachings. Anthony Ray Hinton spoke at Messiah College on Thursday. If you’ve seen the movie, “Just Mercy,” you know about Mr. Hinton. He spent close to 30 years on death row in Alabama in solitary confinement in a cell that was 5x7 feet for a crime he did not commit.
Mr. Hinton said for the first three years, he was so angry at God and was sullen, not even talking when his mother or others came to visit him. One night, he heard another inmate crying. While he could not see the person, he started talking to him and discovered this man’s mother had died. Hinton, raised as a Christian, offered a compassionate ear to this man. He says that no matter what someone does, they deserve compassion. Listening to Jesus.
Hinton forgave everyone who incarcerated him and kept him on death row for so long. While he surely wishes those who did so would admit their mistake and apologize, he knew he needed to forgive them or he would be so bitter and angry inside. Listening to Jesus.
Mr. Hinton told a story about how he befriended another prisoner on death row…a man who was white and was taught to hate people like Mr. Hinton, who is African-American. Mr. Hinton believed this man needed to know love and compassion and that’s what he gave. When this man was going to be executed, he asked that Mr. Hinton spend the day with him. Listening to Jesus brings transformation.
Most of us are not asked to listen to Jesus the way Mr. Hinton was. We don’t receive that deep or challenging test of our faith.
Yet, may we empty ourselves, talk less, not control, hear the meaning, enter into silence and listen to Jesus.
Amen
