The Sound of Peace

Not often do I write out my sermons word for word, most often I preach from an outline only with limited notes. However I did write out my sermon for Christmas Eve a few days ago, and thus I am able to share it on this blog.
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Listen now!

• Mary listened - and a child was born.
• Shepherds listened - and a child was found.
• Joseph listened - and a child was saved.
• Jesus listened - and the world was saved.

It is in listening, truly listening, deeply listening, that we are changed.

The Christmas story challenges us to listen more carefully for God,

and to listen more carefully to one another.

What we ask of God, we need to do ourselves:

• "O Lord, hear our prayer..."
• "Turn your ear toward me..."
• "Listen Lord, as I pray..."

And God does listen, and God's asks us to listen in turn:

• to listen to the promptings of the Spirit...
• to listen to the voices of those who are oppressed...
• to listen with love, and without fear...

Listening helps create harmony

In musical groups it is essential to listen to one another in order to make good music together. Choir members must listen so that they match the tone, pitch and articulations of the other singers, this way the sound created can be cohesive and harmonious. Jazz musicians must listen so that they fit in the groove, creating an ensemble sound, supporting each other in mutual improvisation so that new sounds are created while still melding together in a way that makes sense. Listening is the beginning of music.

Listening creates community

Listening is the beginning of relationships, and listening relationships are the beginning of community. Our culture has emphasized the importance of the individual so much that we are now experiencing the erosion of community. Yet people still long for connection, for community as evidenced by the popularity of social networks like Facebook and MySpace.

Internet communities can be useful and may indeed meet some of our need for relationship, but ultimately we need to be with people. It is one thing to end a sentence with a smiley face emoticon :), it is an entirely different thing to smile at someone who then can smile back with gratitude twinkling in their eye. It is one thing to write ((hugs)) in brackets, it is an entirely different thing to embrace another with a sympathetic and healing touch. Jesus calls us into relationship, into intentional community. The Christmas story reminds us that even at his birth people gathered together around the Christ and were transformed. Listening creates community.

How to listen well

The first step in listening well is to be quiet. This is important as we seek to listen to God's (most often) gentle voice. Shepherds in Jesus' time spent a lot of their lives listening - to the instructions of their masters, to the sounds of the herd, to the relative stillness of the pastures. Perhaps this is why they were the first ones to hear the good news - the message of the angels that the Prince of Peace had been born, perhaps they heard first because they were well practiced at listening.

Those who are used to power and privilege are used to telling not listening - telling others what to do, telling others what they want, telling first and listening later, if at all. If we are honest we will recognize that we are those people used to power and privilege, that we spend much of our energy on telling, speaking our mind, placing our orders, making our requests known... and little energy or time on listening. That can change, but we will need to be intentional about it.

We too can practice listening, even in the midst of a noisy world. The world around us can be cacophonous, but we can be still, and quiet within. And there is something special about that intentional stillness, that quietness that speaks a gentle peace into our lives. Some of the most profound spiritual experiences I have had in my life came at times of stillness, quietness and reflection. When we experience those moments of peace, of serenity, of stillness we realize how much we miss that quiet, how satisfying it can be to simply be, without being busy.

Stillness and Holiness

Perhaps this is why we equate stillness and quietness, with holiness. At Christmastime we sing "Silent Night, Holy Night" picturing in our minds the gentle hush of a stable overcome with awe and wonder. In another carol we repeat this image: "O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.... how silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given..." Stillness and quietness are signs pointing us to the holiness of the scene - this centre point in time, this birth of the Saviour.

Deep in our hearts we know that it is good to be still, good to be quiet...

Deep in our spirits we know that God speaks in a quiet, gentle whisper of a voice...

Deep down we sense that we must still our voices and calm our minds in order to hear God's words - for as Mark Rutherford says in his book "More Pages from a Journal:

Before we can hear the Divine Voice we must shut out all other voices, so that we may be able to listen, to discern its faintest whisper. The most precious messages are those which are whispered.

Peace in the midst of Noise

When the writers of some of our most familiar Christmas carols used quiet and stillness to indicate a holy happening they got it right in one sense, but there is part of the picture missing. Bethlehem must have been anything but quiet - overcrowded because of the Roman census, so packed that there was no room in the inn. When Jesus was born Bethlehem was a place full of people and animals pushing up against one another - yes, there was probably quite a din - even in the middle of the night.

Yet in that stable I can imagine serenity even in the midst of commotion. Those who gazed at the newborn saviour were no doubt able to focus on this miracle even while the busy world swirled around them. The Christ child captivated their attention. There may have been other noises and distractions around, but to Mary, Joseph, and a group of shepherds - nothing else mattered at that moment. When we are able to focus on the Christ child, we to will be able to be less affected by the tumult around us, we will be able to find peace within the storm.

Finding our own quiet space

Thus we are reminded that sometimes we need to remove ourselves from the hustle and bustle of life, to go to a quiet place, even if that quiet place is only within us - we need to find that quiet in order to become better listeners. We need to regularly tune out the world in order that we might tune in to God. This does not mean that we abandon the world, or turn our backs on it, shutting ourselves off from it.

Rather we listen first, and after we listen then we will have heard the good news that we are to take into the confusing and consuming culture that surrounds us - we listen, then we act. Like the shepherds who listened first to the angels, then sought out the Christ child, and then were the first to take the good news of Christ's birth into streets and markets of Bethlehem, they listened, then they acted. The Gospel of Luke tells us there was jubilant proclaiming... but listening came first - listening must always come first.

Peace on earth

If we, each of us gathered here, learn how to listen better, this will further the peace of Christ in our world. At Christmas we proclaim the birth of the Prince of Peace. But true peace does not come from simply proclaiming it, peace comes first from listening, followed by acting in love. I believe that if we slow down and take the time to listen to God, we will discover the pathway to peace - both personal peace and peace between people. By listening, truly listening, deeply listening, we move toward the fullness of "Peace on Earth".

Think for a moment of the opposite of listening, think of angry shouting. Shouting can lead to confrontation, and confrontation can lead to conflict, and conflict can take on a life of its own until no one is sure what we were fighting about in the first place. Listening breaks down the barriers we build between each other, for it is in listening that we learn how others feel, how others think, how others are similar to ourselves in more ways than they are different. Jesus was born to break down the barriers between all people, Jesus brought healing and forgiveness to all people, Jesus shows God's love to all people, and in this way he is truly the Prince of Peace. Listen to Jesus, listen to God.

Listening to God

We can listen to God by quieting our minds and leaving space in our prayers for God to speak. Too often our praying is simply listing off all our requests for God, and there is no sense of listening for God's guidance. We need to make space in our prayers for listening. We can also listen to God by making time to hear or read the words of Jesus regularly - through weekly worship and daily Bible reading. We celebrate the birth of Jesus because we believe that Jesus brings God's word to us directly, that Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Son of God in our midst. But to do these things we must make time, make space in our busy lives, otherwise it simply won't happen.

Listening to Others

In listening to God we will discover that God is calling us to listen to one another. We can do this act of love by taking the time to listen without interruption, without feeling the necessity of making our own thoughts known, without the needing to prove our point. We can listen to others by striving to understand, not just hear, but truly understand what they are saying, and what they are feeling. This requires patience and practice, but God has given us plenty of opportunity for practice all around us, all the time.

The Gift of Listening

I end this Christmas sermon with a suggestion, or if I may be so bold, a request:

Add to your gift giving this Christmas the gift of listening to each other.

Make one of your New Year's resolutions to listen more intentionally, and more often.

• May you seek to listen more...
• May you be less concerned about being heard,
• And more about hearing.

Disciples of the child born in Bethlehem listen, listen now...

• angels bring good news...
• listen quietly...
• listen faithfully...
• listen...