Listen Up

In the seventh, and final, of his "Letters to Marc about Jesus" Henri Nouwen urges "three forms of listening".

We live in a noisy world, and it is easy to forget the place and importance of listening.

Nouwen firstly urges a listening to the church.  We all can identify lots of things that are wrong with the church, but the church is the Body of Christ.  "To listen to the Church is to lists to The Lord of the Church."

We should also listen to the book.  The Bible has so much to say to us, and that can be supported by 'spiritual reading' about the Bible and the lives of the saints. 

Thirdly, we should listen to our heart.  "Praying is first and foremost listening to Jesus who dwells in the very depths of your heart.  He doesn't shout.  .. His voice is an unassuming voice, very nearly a whisper, the voice of a gentle love."

It is so easy to miss the voice of God because we are not listening.

Friendship

Jesus was known as 'a friend of sinners'.  It was meant as a criticism, condemning him for getting in with the wrong crowd.  The establishment had strong questions about some of his associates.  He seemed to be ready to engage with people on and beyond the margins.  He was open  to these awkward characters that nice society rejected.  But whoever we are engaging with, friendship is the way to go.

Brian Maclaren (in "Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road?") reminds us that: "Christian mission begins with friendship - not utilitarian friendship, the religious version of network marketing - but genuine friendship, friendship that translates love for neighbours in general into knowing, appreciating, liking and enjoying this or that neighbour in particular."

We sometimes talk about tools for evangelism and consider how we can develop strategies for effective evangelism.  It is well worth remembering that the most obvious starting point for mission is friendship.

Maclaren goes on to talk about "conspiratorial" or "subversive" friendships which cross barriers and allow a pursuing of those things that we hold in common rather than allow the differences to prevent co-operation.  He talks about sharing common dreams and the "give and take" of friendship.  Surely that is how it should be.  As Maclaren comments about a specific example: "Together we were plotting goodness."  I think Jesus would go for that.

Relationship

Relationships are so important, and we so often get them wrong.  But God provides the example – the ultimate in relationships is surely the Trinity.  Rowan Williams (in Choose Life, Bloomsbury, 2013) reminds us that: “God’s gift at Christmas is relationship, not just another human relationship but relation to God the Father by standing where Jesus stands, standing in the full torrent of his love and creativity, giving and receiving.  To come into that place and be rooted and grounded there means letting go of our fear of dependence and opening our hearts to be fed and enlarged and transformed.”

When we open ourselves to relationships, we open ourselves to possibility.  One of the great things about our faith is that God chooses us to be his partners and, as the Body of Christ, that partnership extends also to how we engage with and support each other.  

Higher and Lower

Nouwen’s fourth of his Letters to Marc about Jesus focusses on the idea of Jesus as the descending God.  Jesus comes down to our level.  That is what the incarnation is.  Nouwen talks about Jean Vanier’s founding of the first L’Arche community by saying – “He renounced a career that would take him higher and higher up the ladder of success for a vocation that brought him down to the level of the poor, the weak, the sick and those in distress.  It has become very clear to me now that the further you descend, the more your eyes are opened to the brokenness of our humanity.”

We tend to want to climb the ladder – indeed, that’s an expression we would use.  We are looking for power and greatness.  Jesus wants to tell us to find those things by looking to weakness and servanthood.  And Jesus certainly provides us with a model.  As Nouwen points out, “Again and again you see how Jesus opts for what is small, hidden and poor, and accordingly declines to wield influence.”

Change

I have been reading Paulo Coelho's "Manuscript found in Accra" (HarperCollins, 2012).  It is the translation of a relatively ancient manuscript, dating from perhaps 1307 and offers a collection of wisdom sayings.  One section refers to the question of change and the fact that many people fear it.  The suggestion is that we are afraid to change because we know what we've got - "We are afraid to change because we think that, after so much effort and sacrifice, we know our present world." 

But change will happen, even if we are resistant - and that is needed.  Even things that we might change do, however slowly.  As this writer reminds us: "Those who think that the mountains don't change are wrong: they are born out of earthquakes, are eroded by wind and rain, and each day they are slightly different, even though we do not notice."

Change for change's sake is rarely a good idea, but let's be ready to look out for and embrace those changes that are needed and, when we should, do what we can to encourage them.