Practice of Listening

[Hobby Chapin]

The practice of listening is difficult. It is uncommon for most of us.

In our gathering Tuesday night we looked at the 5 BLESS disciplines and asked to each rate ourselves on a scale of 1-10. We rated ourselves Highest on Eat; we are very good at that :) We also rated ourselves as high on Bless; we have a lot of mercy gifts in our body. But, Listen was the lowest by far.

We asked the question: "If we could be good at only one of these which should it be?" We had a variety of answers . . . "We should focus on the one's we are the best at." "We should be focused on Blessing." But, the answer that the group came to concensus on was that if we were the best at Listening, then we would also be enhanced in our other practices. What would it mean if we were a 10 on listening as a body?

So, what are your thoughts. If you get a chance, rate yourself on the scale of 1-10, I would love to see our online community scores.

[James Nored]

Hobby, thanks for giving us insight into the conversations that your church is having as they seek to imitate Christ's life and mission. I suppose that I am drawn most to the "Bless" part of this model, where you try to bless three people's lives each week (1 Christian, 1 non-Christian, and 1 either). This is due to my experience of church, which was based much more upon right beliefs rather than an active, lived out faith.

Listening is, of course, something that can lead to blessing others and all of the rest of the BLESS model. Blessing--right action--can also cause one to see God at work, helping us to hear and see things we had never heard or seen before.

So I suppose I see these practices as all being able to help us in the other practices. Eating together gives us opportunities to hear God's work in others' lives, and creates opportunities to bless others. Etc.. They are very much interrelated.

I would say that I do not rate as high on the listening scale as I would like. I am better at doing than being quiet and listening for God's whisper. I would rate myself a 6 on this scale, I suppose, right at this moment, in my personal life. In regards to the life of the church, non-believers and culture, however, I would rate this much higher, as I am always looking for where God is already at work.

Interesting question.