Features: October 2006

A Case for Listening by James G. Kirk

The Nicene Marks in a Post-Christendom Church by Darrell L. Guder

Called to Be One Church: An Invitation for Churches to Renew Their Commitment by Robina Winbush

It Is Not So Among You! by Walter Altmann

Where Is Bread? by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

Past Issues

OGA Main Page

Items marked with are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. For best results, right-click the link (or click and hold for Macintosh), select "save target as" and save the document to your desktop for viewing and printing.

A Case for Listening

James G. Kirk

Most preachers will agree that in the course of a year they will probably preach ten sermons that could be called “nuggets.” One of those nuggets for me had to do with the reason God gave us two ears and one mouth. In the sermon, I made the point that God really wants us to listen more and speak less. It could be said that there are several reasons for that. But before they’re listed, let me make the distinction between listening and hearing.

Listening, to me, is an active exercise. It means being engaged with another person, paying attention to what is being said, and understanding or seeking clarification. Hearing, on the other hand, is more of a passive exercise. Single people I know will always have the television or the radio on just to keep them company. Hearing doesn’t beg for attention; all it really requires is space for the sound waves to move.

Having said that, I think we in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are in a time when God is calling us to listen more and speak less. I just finished six years serving on the General Assembly Council. The highlight of that journey was when John Detterick and Cliff Kirkpatrick spent a year and a half going to presbyteries and synods just to listen to what people had to say. That did more for the image of the national church than all the pronouncements that could be delivered from the offices in Louisville.

Cliff and John showed the people in the trenches their voices were necessary. Their visits gave credence to the fact that we really are a connectional church and one of the primary ways to stay connected is to say “hello” to one another. Throughout their conversations, they repeated time and again the phrase, “If I’m hearing you correctly.” They wanted the people to know that they were there to listen to them.

People love to feel they’ve been heard. They don’t necessarily need others to agree with them as long as their thoughts and opinions are validated. Time and again in the parish, when someone became disenchanted with the congregation, it was because they received no validation as a person or as an integral part of the family. They were disenfranchised and their opinions counted for nothing, so they distanced themselves. It could be said that part of the pathos the denomination is experiencing is due to the same feeling of disenfranchisement. “People don’t care what I think, thus they must not care about me.”

Listening also helps us to learn. I’m currently enrolled in an Executive Seminar at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. The program brings together people from all walks of life to discuss a book a month. The books are regarded as the classics of a liberal arts education. Once a month, thirty people from all walks of life will gather and discuss the month’s reading. There are no grades, no tests, and no requirements other than discussing the question the tutor poses at the beginning of the class. Listening to the comments and participating in the discussion invariably raises the bar on anything I alone was able to glean from the book.

The lesson I learned from the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church was the extent to which each of the members grew from listening to one another. There was no one exempt from that learning curve. They made an intentional effort to spend whatever time was necessary to hear and understand one another’s point of view. Together, they emerged with a model for the entire church.

Baltimore Presbytery has made a concerted effort to listen to one another. Some around the county may consider Baltimore to be a rather liberal presbytery, judging from the overtures it sends to the General Assembly. However, it also reflects the diversity that is the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and, as such, has made it a priority to leave no one out of the decision-making process. That means taking the time necessary to allow everyone the right to feel that his or her opinion has been deliberately sought, consciously heard, and thoughtfully considered. It’s not always easy and may be time consuming, but the results are much more harmonious in the end.

During this time of international tension, it is vitally important that we listen to the voices of our sisters and brothers around the world. While a pastor, I had the privilege of marrying Joseph and Najla Kassab. Joseph is now the General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Lebanon and Syria, while Najla is the director of the Christian Education Department in the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon. During the summer, we received a letter that spoke of their pain and the church’s witness. They wrote:

As the Lebanese started to walk towards peace, freedom and prosperity, many people had decided to come back for a final settlement in Lebanon, and young people had chosen not to immigrate, we were shocked with war again that blew all our plans and left us with a blurred future that put us under the mercy of the powers of the world. As for our Presbyterian Church we were delighted in the past ten years, to see our displaced congregations returning to their towns and villages. The Synod and its people succeeded in rebuilding and renovating the sanctuaries and churches in South Lebanon, re-established the Christian witness and ministry in those areas. Today, and after seventeen days of war we discover that we are back twenty-five years ago.

We need to listen to the voices of pain and despair, as well as the voices of hope for the future.

Which bring us back to those ten “nuggets” the pastor may preach during the course of a year. Pastors need to know the concerns, the fears, and needs of their congregations. Living daily with the people, they soon learn a whole host of topics they need to address in their sermons. Some pastors have deliberately sought feedback on their sermons during coffee after worship or printing their sermons and having them available for the congregation. All of those are attempts to have an ongoing dialogue with the preacher and eliminating a one-way conversation that may otherwise occur.

Listening may be the kairos to which God is currently calling us. From a theological point of view, listening may be a Sabbath experience. We have toiled long and hard at telling one another what they ought to believe. God knows, everyone is weary from the energy that’s been exuded by one and all. Howard Rice, a former Moderator of the General Assembly, had silent retreats across the country during his tenure. I’m told the current Moderator is planning a similar exercise. They were a wonderful opportunity to listen for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, to spend a concerted amount of time in prayer and introspection, to take time to seek God’s direction, and to recommit one’s self to the peace, unity, and purity of the faith.

We’re all about the business of proclaiming the Sabbath and making it an integral part of one’s life. Perhaps God is calling us to listen to what we preach and go and do likewise! That’s my case for listening to one another.

James G. Kirk is an honorably retired Minister of the Word and Sacrament.

Copyright Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). All Rights Reserved.