Grace & Peace Winter 2018 Invocation - Hearing Voices

FROM THE EDITOR

INVOCATION

HEARING VOICES

Whoever has ears, let them hear.” – Jesus (Mark 4:9 and elsewhere). Like most of us, I have practiced selective hearing. Whether it involves arguments ortasks that I am simply not inclined to do at the moment, I have used a filter that only lets in those things I want to hear.

While this filtering can provide temporary comfort and relief from responsibility, this ultimately results in isolation and ignorance. Failure to truly engage and hear another person isolates me from him or her in other ways, even if we are in the same room. Furthermore, the more isolated I become in my own thinking, the more ignorant I become regarding the changing needs of others, including their perspective on key issues.

God created human beings for community, and throughoutthe Bible, God is portrayed as one who seeks ongoing conversation: God wants to be heard. Jesus Christ, God incarnate, is called “The Word” (John 1:1). God is speaking in a variety of ways throughout Scripture, most clearly through His Son (Hebrews 1:1), but that is not the only way God speaks. God, by the Holy Spirit, speaks through His people, through nature, and even through circumstances. While He has spoken most clearly through Scripture and through Jesus Christ, God can use both those who are like us and those who are not like us to teach us something.

My first academic encounter with this reality came through a professor I had in my first year of college who disagreed

A Pray e r of Invoca t i o n:

O God: You created all people in your image.We thank you for the astonishingvariety of races and cultures in this world.Enrich our lives by ever-widening circles of friendship,and show us your presence in those who differ most from us,until our knowledge of your love ismade perfect in our love for all your children;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(from The Lutheran Book of Worship)

with my perspective on nearly everything! Throughout the semester, I found myself moving from a defensive posture to a posture of truly trying to hear his perspective and to expand the way I think about my faith.

While I never saw completely eye to eye with this professor, I did benefit from really listening to his perspective, and for years he became the one professor with whom I interacted consistently long after college. We continued to disagree on some issues, but we learned to truly listen to one another and grow in appreciation and respect.

Later, in seminary, I read the work of controversial theologians including James H. Cone, the modern founder of Black Liberation Theology. Cone’s bold and often controversial style and message originally put me in a defensive mode and even offended me many times! I once threw a James Cone book acrossthe room of my office in frustration. However, when I picked the book back up and tried my best to interact with his work, I developed a greater appreciation for the struggles and interpretive approach Cone advocated for throughout his long and esteemed career.

I found out later that what I was doing was called “suspended disbelief,” or, a “willing suspension of disbelief.” This phrase is strongly identified with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and with theologian Paul Tillich. It involves temporarily suspending my own views and critiques long enough to thoughtfully and fully engage the ideas and views of others. This allows me to get closer to their perspectives than my

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