Porch #128 * Listening Life Book Club .1
because having the last word, or the first word, or all the words in between is not all it's cracked up to be
Welcome to The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction Online Book Club!
For three weekends here on PORCH I’ll be sharing quotes from our esteemed author, Adam McHugh … and then swinging wide the door for you to continue the dialogue in the comment section.
We’ll cover 3 chapters each week.
You don’t have to sign up or be a subscriber to chat with us (although if you like what’s happening around here, please make my day).
The discussion remains open for as long as you have something to say.
And if you're not reading the book, no problem. There’s plenty of room at the table and we want to hear your voice.
So pull up a chair …
Introduction
'Speaking our minds and asserting ourselves take priority over listening. We interrupt someone else because we are convinced we already know what he or she is going to say. We begin to take up more space than we allow for others. We consider ourselves experts on topics without anything more to learn. We tell God what to give rather than asking what God wants to give. We participate by speaking and sharing, and we assert our identities by taking verbal stands. We shout our messages from the rooftops without knowing who is listening and what they need. We view others as projects rather than people with unique stories to be heard. We consider our great Christian task to be preaching, rather than assuming the listening posture of a servant. We speak volumes, but we listen in snippets.'
Chapter 1 - The Listening Life
'Loneliness drives us to talk about ourselves to excess and to turn conversations toward ourselves. It makes us grasp on to others, thinking their role is to meet our needs, and it shrinks the space we have in our souls for welcoming others in. That loneliness would keep us from listening, and others from listening to us, is a tragedy, because being listened to is one of the great assurances in this universe that we are not alone.'
Chapter 2 - The King Who Listens
'Although we are tempted in times of agonizing silence to think of God with an icy stare on his face, refusing to make eye contact, I have found it comforting to think of God simply sitting with us in our pain, quietly listening. Maybe what feels like awkward and anxious silences to us are actually full and gentle silences. We are reminded that listening is not inaction. When God is listening to us, even if we do not experience the results we hope for, he is actively disposed toward us. We must also remember that the fact that God hears prayers does not make him servile to our demands. Prayer words are not incantations with innate power to change divine weather patterns. When God doesn't give us our specific prayer requests, it may be an indication that he is working different things into us: things like trust, dependence, humility, patience, wisdom, even intimacy with him.'
Chapter 3 - Listening to God
'Throughout the Old and New Testaments God employs an impressive arsenal of communication tools: words spoken from heaven, words written on tablets, preaching and prophetic words, answered prayer, visual demonstrations, counsels and consensus, thoughts, dream, visions, symbols, words from others, signs in creation, angels, music and song, spiritual gifts, the breaking of bread and immersion in river water, common sense, conviction of sin, impressions on the conscience, and of course, a chatty donkey. The Bible does not offer a systematic treatment for how God speaks and how to recognize his voice. It assumes that God speaks in manifold and mysterious and unexpected ways. God speaks from outside and God speaks from within, God asks questions and gives answers, God speaks in noise and in silence. The universe crackles with the sound of God's voice.'
You know that I am out of words,
you can see I'm out of thought,
and that all my dreams are birds
that never, ever will be caught.
You know that there is little left,
you see the cupboard's nearly bare,
and that my careworn warp and weft
is no shield 'gainst the empty air.
But I ask, don't turn away,
for in nothing there hides grace.
Sit, and for a short time, stay,
and add your heart-warmth to this place,
for it's your friendship I hold dear,
so linger here, and have a beer.
This statement especially caught my attention (out of many worthwhile tidbits!): "We tell God what to give rather than asking what God wants to give." There are those who tell us to pray with specificity, reminding us that "we have not because we ask not" (James 4:2). But I much prefer to leave the outcome of prayers with my all-wise Father. What HE wants to give will always be the best. Perhaps that verse from James could be understood: we don't have God's best because we don't ask for His best!