Today at morning prayer a couple of things caught my attention in the psalms. The first thing was this line:
By day you hand down your steadfast love,
and at night your song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life. (Ps. 42)
The psalmist is telling me God sings a prayer within me, especially at night when
things are supposed to be quieting down. The song is one of praise to the very one
who is the Source of all love and all gifts, the "God of my life."
This gives me another slant on those bits and pieces of music that drift in and out
of my days. Some are bits from my own mind, others are remnants of hymnody
we used at liturgy, while others may be random memories from who knows where.
If I pay attention, any of them could literally be a "note from God". Instead of finding
them annoying, as I do at times (especially if I don't like the song!), next time I'll try
to hear what truth might be hiding behind the words, what insights the melody
might be offering me. Maybe there's a mini-prayer there!
a ky monk
Monday, March 25, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Jesus: God's Invitation to Listen
In a post a while back I said I'd been asked to do a presentation about listening at a retreat. During preparation a number of insights came to me, and I thought a few could be worth noting here. For some readers they may not be especially insightful, but they were for me.
As I reflected on the act of real listening, I understood that it involves conscious steps: hearing some message, taking it into myself, making it part of me in some way, then performing some action such as paying more attention to someone who is present or even changing something in myself; the action depends upon what the message is calling me toward. (These steps are what distinguish listening from hearing. The latter may bring some sound in, but nothing happens that affects me; there's no conscious action on my part. Some writers noted how hard listening is, one going so far as to say, tongue in cheek, that no one really listens, and if we tried it, we'd understand why!)
Amidst all these observations came the notion that much of what we listen to are words. Then the thought of Jesus as Word entered the mix. It dawned on me that one way to look at the incarnation is that Jesus is God's invitation to listen; he is the perfect Word! Next came the thought that Jesus was not only God's complete Word, but the perfect Listener because he did the will of his father totally and completely.
Since I am part of Christ's body, I share in this mysterious reality. I am to be God's word as well as one who listens to God's word wherever I am. This is quite a challenge to reflect on and try to make part of my daily living.
a ky monk
As I reflected on the act of real listening, I understood that it involves conscious steps: hearing some message, taking it into myself, making it part of me in some way, then performing some action such as paying more attention to someone who is present or even changing something in myself; the action depends upon what the message is calling me toward. (These steps are what distinguish listening from hearing. The latter may bring some sound in, but nothing happens that affects me; there's no conscious action on my part. Some writers noted how hard listening is, one going so far as to say, tongue in cheek, that no one really listens, and if we tried it, we'd understand why!)
Amidst all these observations came the notion that much of what we listen to are words. Then the thought of Jesus as Word entered the mix. It dawned on me that one way to look at the incarnation is that Jesus is God's invitation to listen; he is the perfect Word! Next came the thought that Jesus was not only God's complete Word, but the perfect Listener because he did the will of his father totally and completely.
Since I am part of Christ's body, I share in this mysterious reality. I am to be God's word as well as one who listens to God's word wherever I am. This is quite a challenge to reflect on and try to make part of my daily living.
a ky monk
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