What are we planting? What are we tending? What will we harvest?
Let
anyone with ears listen …
There are no qualifiers on listening to the word of God.
Anyone with ears can do it!
The bar is pretty low. Listen.
What we each hear will be different depending on all kinds of things, age, health, wealth, status, culture, language all kinds of things.
The most important thing for me is to remember that God is
still talking, and I pray I am, we are,
still listening – that
WE ARE the hearers of the word.
Can you even count the number of times have you heard this
parable (you can listen to it again it you want) -- 10, 20, 100 times? What do you hear differently this time?
I was thinking how I can hear a song a 100 times and then I will hear something different. The same thing is absolutely true for a poem and for the word of God. Every year I try to reread
To Kill a Mockingbird, or something by Madeline L’Engel or the
Chronicles of Narnia. I know folks who have reread all the Harry Potter books during these last few months.
We don’t, we can’t say, oh I’ve heard or read or seen that before, I know that stuff. Well, I guess one could say those things, however, what is the fun in that. I don’t think we revisit poetry or song or scripture or literature expecting the same old thing, I think we revisit them because we want something to strike us, we want, we hope to be surprised.
Is that too generous? I don’t think so. Yes, even those of us who say we don’t like surprises can be surprised in a safe way in a song or a piece of music or poem or yes, even, the bible!
The condition of our hearts will definitely affect the way we hear the word. And that’s a devotion for another week….
God’s Word comes to us in many ways. As we work on being better listeners (this is a theme, beloved) to each other and to the word of God, may the parables be a way, even today, to receive more fully, God’s intention for us.
July 12
Rev. Alison