I sat through many, many lectures in my life. Most of them I made it through without falling asleep. Of course, with seminary studies, I rarely fell asleep because the topics of study were so interesting. Sure, there can be some core courses even in seminary that might be a bit boring, but not usually.

Jesus says in the Gospel for this coming Sunday – after he tells the parable of “The Sower and the Seed” (Matthew 13:1-9) – “Let anyone with ears listen!”

We’ve heard it before, but it is true that there is a difference between listening and hearing. In this case, listening requires some cognitive focus, a “paying attention” to what is being said. Often times, someone might say to another in their conversation, “Oh, I hear ya’” but I often wonder if they have really heard what has just been said to them.

When I lived and served Christ in Knoxville, many years ago, there was a professor in the speech department there at UT who did an in depth study of how long a speaker actually has someone’s undivided attention. His findings were that – on the average – you will have an audience’s undivided for somewhere between ten and fifteen seconds! It might be apparent then that most seasoned speakers will make it clear in the first two or three sentences of their speech or sermon what the whole message is about! They then offer the body of the message, and then, reiterate the opening remarks (which is a good way to make sure everyone heard it a second time).

That’s partly why I loved Shakespeare when I was studying English literature. In each of his plays, he gives you a very simple prologue, before the play ever begins. (These are what I called “William’s Cliff Notes”) “…A pair of star-crossed lovers, do with their death bury their parents’ strife…” tell the whole story of Romeo and Juliet, and we haven’t even begun with Act One yet! As a student, I loved that!

Jesus calls us to listen. Not only with our ears, but also with our hearts. I hear a lot of things. I hear the birds in our backyard, conversations of loud people in restaurants, and thunder in an approaching storm. It’s only when I listen intently that I might be able to determine the kind of bird it is, or even in a storm, how far away that thunder (and lightning) is from our home.
When we read the Bible, do we “listen” to what is being said to us? I helps me often to read it out loud because then I can get a different perspective when I hear and listen to those special words. I find that even on Sunday mornings when the lector gets up to read the readings, I discover even then new things about God’s Word because I have the chance to “listen” once more!
And when we pray, do we listen? What? How can we listen when we are praying? God listens, doesn’t He? So, at the end of our prayers, why shouldn’t we include time where we simply pause for a few moments and listen for God’s response. Sometimes quite a lot of things are communicated with the silence that follows our prayers. Take time to do this when we pray. In that silence we can leave our prayer place reassured of what our prayer has communicated to God and how we might live those special words out in our lives on that very day!

Let anyone with ears listen. And may God’s peace come from that experience of listening.

God loves you and so do we!
Pastor Jim