Piloting Faith: You can’t hate someone whose story you know

A Word for the Day...

I have been reading a lot of Margaret Wheatley these days. She is a writer, speaker, teacher and sociologist who has worked across the globe with governments, corporations, non-profits and universities studying organizational change and how we create healthy communities. In other words, she looks at the way the world works best and helps the rest of us see what is right in front of our eyes. I am loving the journey of new insights that she is creating for me.

In her book, A Simpler Way, she tells of a beautiful encounter between a teacher and student. She writes:

A school teacher told me how one day a sixteen-year-old became disruptive – shouting angrily, threatening her verbally. She could have called the authorities – there were laws to protect her from such abuse. Instead, she sat down, and asked the student to talk to her. It took some time for him to quiet down; he was very agitated and kept pacing the room. But finally, he walked over to her and began talking about his life. She just listened. No one had listened to him in a long time. Her attentive silence gave him space to see himself, to hear himself. She didn’t offer advice. She couldn’t figure out his life, and she didn’t have to. He could do it himself because she had listened.

I love the biblical passage: “Whenever two or more are gathered, I am there.” It describes for me the holiness of moments of real listening. The health, wholeness, holiness of a new relationship forming. I once saw a card that said, "You can’t hate someone whose story you know." You don’t have to like the story or even the person telling you their story. But listening creates a relationship. We move closer to one another.

I likely don’t need to convince you that we could all stand to do more listening to one another. But I do wonder what it will take for us to realize that we SHOULD do more listening – that to be faithful in these days means that we should embrace less “doing” so that we create space for more “being.” Of course, I am now speaking to myself…but I thought I would let you overhear my thoughts these days. After all, it is from you that I need to be hearing.

- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week

Lead us from death to life,
from falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope,
from fear to trust.
Let peace fill our hearts,
our world, our universe.
Let us dream together,
pray together,
work together,
to build one world
of peace and justice for all.