By Andy Wade –
What does it mean to listen, to really listen so that you hear and understand? And what are the many ways we can learn to listen? This month’s Author-of-the-Month, Keith Anderson, explores this idea in his newest book, A Spirituality of Listening: Living What We Hear.
Our home in Kowloon City, Hong Kong circa 1997
Several years ago while living in Hong Kong I began exploring our modern idea of spiritual retreat, taking time to reflect and to listen deeply to God. It dawned on me that we almost always take these retreats out of our regular surroundings, often in times a remote setting, a kind of going into the wilderness. I understand why this is so inviting. It seems I listen best when I’m away from routine.
I really enjoy “wilderness” retreats, yet several things about this bothered me:
- It’s a luxury many don’t have.
- While it takes us out of our normal element so we can better focus, it doesn’t teach us how to become spiritually balanced and to listen more deeply within our everyday context.
- Going into the wilderness in the Bible, and as seen by the early monks and nuns, was not a retreat but going out to do battle with the devil, often on behalf of the church.
- It can become a form of escapism where we leave behind our issues in order to be “spiritual” for a time, reinforcing a kind of sacred/secular dualism all too common in the church today.
What would it mean, I wondered, to retreat – to learn to listen – in the city?
As a small-town boy Transplanted to a city of seven million, I was often overwhelmed by all the noise, both auditory and visual. This constant assault on my senses dulled my ability to listen. Walking into one of Hong Kong’s many five-story malls, my eyes would kind of glaze over and my ears would go into hibernation. I’d simply go about my business on auto-pilot. I struggled to find a space where I could listen, really hear, in the city where all the stimuli overwhelmed my senses.
What I began to discover, and am still learning, is that there are many ways to listen deeply. I wish I’d had Anderson’s book back in the late 90’s when I began this exploration of retreat and listening. For much of my journey I have limited listening to a very narrow definition. Sure, I had different tools for listening, like journaling, Lectio Divina, and the practice of Examine, but I really hadn’t thought of listening with such broad parameters as outlined in this book.
Since this really isn’t a review of Anderson’s book I won’t outline the various forms of listening he explores. But I do want to mention a key aspect of listening that I’ve learned is essential to making room for listening in the city, and which Anderson also explores. Silence.
I think one of the real attractions of retreat away from home is the possibility of real, physical silence. But like listening, silence actually has many forms. There is physical silence, an ambient quietness of sound and activity. This kind of silence often requires us to leave our normal environment. Another critical form of silence is an inner silence, which we can cultivate. We can learn to find this silence even when chaos swirls around us, assaulting our senses. For some, their individual spiritual and emotional temperaments may naturally cultivate this ability, while for others it may seem a near impossibility.
I had a roommate in college with a heightened sense of inner silence. For him it took the form of being able to shut out everything around him and focus only on the task in front of him. It didn’t seem to matter what I did when he was in this zone; he had no idea what was going on around him. I had to physically put my hands on him and shake him to get his attention. This kind of inner silence can be hugely beneficial when we’re unable to escape our surroundings but want to focus on God as we listen for God’s still, small voice speaking deeply within.
There is another kind of inner silence which comes to many of us only with struggle; Shutting off our inner voices, those boundless inner conversations, arguments, self-justifications and random thoughts. This is where a short, repeated prayer like, “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” can help to clear our minds. I keep a notebook nearby so I can jot down these random thoughts and set them aside. If I jot them down so I know I will remember them later, I’m able to let them go for a while.
There is an inescapable connection between silence and listening well. Silence allows us to focus. Whether that focus is on a conversation (including prayer), God’s creation, or reflecting on scripture, silence enhances our ability to truly hear. I would go so far as to say that, until we learn to cultivate inner silence, our ability to listen well will be severely limited.
Reflecting on these aspects of listening:
- What is your experience of listening?
- How do you listen best to God?
- Where do you find it most challenging to listen?
This last question might be the source of a personal challenge for you for this week or month.
How might you be more intentional about listening in those situations where listening is most difficult for you?
Keep a journal and write down:
- What are be some specific reasons listening in this context is difficult for me?
- Some possibilities might be noise, distractions, a broken relationship, contrasting views, painful memories…
- What are two to three steps you can take today to practice listening more intentionally in these contexts?
- Maybe it means working on reconciliation with someone. Or perhaps seeking therapy for a deep brokeness that gets in the way of hearing from certain (types of) people. Or maybe, like me, you need to work harder at focusing on the person(s) in front of you while ignoring all the interesting things happening around you.
In the video below, Julian Treasure outlines five concrete steps to help us listen better. Reflecting on this video I realized that our imaginations and creativity are also often ravaged by the constant onslaught of noise in our lives. Implementing the five steps outlined by Treasure can begin to address both the spiritual and creative numbing that happens when we’re constantly surrounded by noise.
[themify_video src=”https://youtu.be/cSohjlYQI2A” width=”600″ ]
A Review – Christine Sine
The Spirituality of Listening by Keith Anderson is one of the best books on listening as a spiritual discipline that I have read in a long time. God is still active in our world today Keith contends, and God still speaks to us. The problem is that we have forgotten how to listen and need to re-learn this most basic of practice.
Books about listening often start with retreat and withdrawal but Keith starts in the place where we all live – in our everyday lives full of noise, tweets and emails. To the question Is it possible to hear God’s voice today? Keith’s response is a resounding yes. God can be heard in every aspect of life.
I love the way Keith interweaves theological insights with stories and practical tools for listening. Each chapter ends with a helpful summary and simple exercises that enrich our experience of listening.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who desires a deeper walk with God and a heightened ability to hear the voice of God. Enjoy!
June is a month for listening. That will be our Godspace theme for the next month. How do we listen and what do we listen to? In preparation for this, a couple of months ago we asked our Godspace contributors what their favourite books on listening were. The follow is a list our suggestions – from many different perspectives and understandings. Enjoy and make sure you listen well!
- Anderson, Keith: A Spirituality of Listening: Living What We Hear
- Baab, Lynne:Â The Power of Listening: Building Skills for Mission and Ministry
- Bill, J. Brent: Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality
- Brenner, Juliet: Contemplative Vision: A Guide to Christian Art and Prayer
- Buechner, Frederick: Listening to Your Life
- de Caussade, Jean-Pierre: The Sacrament of the Present Moment
- Deere, Jack: Surprised by the Voice of God
- Goll, James W.: The Lost Art of Practicing His Presence
- Guenther, Margaret: Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction
- Fr. Gabriel: Divine Intimacy
- Richard Foster: Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home and Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer
- Hart, Thomas: The Art of Christian Listening
- Hipps, Shane: Flickering Pixels
- Huggett, Joyce: The Joy of Listening to God
- Iyer, Pico: Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere
- Kelly, Thomas: A Testament of Devotion
- Kidd, Sue Monk: When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions
- Long, Anne: Listening
- Loring, Patricia: Listening Spirituality Vol. I and Vol. II
- Merton, Thomas: Thoughts in Solitude and Contemplative Prayer and Dialogues with Silence.
- Miller, James E.: The Art of Listening in a Healing Way and The Art of Being a Healing Presence
- Nepo, Mark: Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred
- Newell, J. Phillip: Listening for the Heartbeat of God
- Nouwen, Henri: The Way of the Heart: Connecting with God Through Wisdom, Prayer and Silence and Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life
- Palmer, Parker: Let Your Life Speak and A Hidden Wholeness
- Peel, Donald: The Ministry of Listening
- Phillips, Susan: Candlelight: Illuminating The Art of Spiritual Direction and The Cultivated Life
- Rohr, Richard: Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer
- Valters Paintner, Christine: Lectio Divina: the Sacred Art and Illuminating the Way; Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
- Virkler, Mark: How to Hear God’s Voice
- Wilson, Rob: How Do I Help a Hurting Friend
For more books on The Art of Discernment, check out this resource list.
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Last week I talked about our need to pay attention to our lives. I reflected on the need to listen deeply and look closely, but as I reflected on that this week I realized there are far more ways to pay attention than looking and listening. There are five senses through which we perceive the world, yet when it comes to paying attention you would sometimes think there are only two.
Taste and see that the Lord is good  Psalm 34:8 tells us. How do we taste and savour the flavour of God I wonder? My husband and I both love to cook special meals for friends and family, but tasting those meals is far more than sitting down at table. It’s certainly not a fast food meal. Its a wonderful slow experience.
Anticipation
Any good meal begins with anticipation, and not just of the food, but also of the friends and fellowship and family who will enjoy it with us. Â We imagine the flavours we want to experience, delighting in them as we savour them in our minds, remembering nostalgically the last time we enjoyed them. We think of the people we want to invite to enjoy the meal with us and even anticipate the wonderful process of preparing the meal.
What does it mean I wonder to anticipate the taste of God? How do we prepare to savour the flavour of God’s presence? I think it probably is little like getting ready for a banquet feast.
Preparation
A lot of work goes into the tasting of a festive meal.
If we are really on top of our game, it begins with planting the vegetables we want to incorporate in it. Brandywine tomatoes for Tom’s famous Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, bock choy for Phad Thai, basil for pesto and olive tapenade. We till the soil, plant the seed and diligently water and fertilize them until they are ready to harvest. We pull out the recipe books and check out our favourite internet cooking sites, exploring the dishes that might fulfill our desire for new flavours. We check our cooking utensils making sure we have everything we need, recruit a few good helpers as sou chefs, iron the best tablecloth and serviettes and plan for a festive day. And as the day approaches we gather our ingredients – a trip to the garden, another to the pantry, and a final trip to the farmers’ market and the supermarket.
At the same time we make out our invitation list – friends, family, strangers too. Â All get invited to a truly festive meal.
Then the cooking begins. With much hilarity and fun, the ingredients are diced, chopped and blended and soon fragrant spices fill the house. They tantalize our taste buds. By the time we put the food on the table, our whole body is ready for the feast.
What does it mean to prepare to taste of the goodness of God? What seeds to do we need to plant months in advance to enjoy the taste to its fulness? What tools do we need to help us prepare? Who do we invite to experience it with us?
Tasting the Goodness of God
A festive meal is a wonderful, joyful experience at which we truly taste of the goodness of God. We admire the table decorations and enter into the laughter and enlivening conversations. We pile our plates with wonderful food and fill our glasses with the best of wine. We sit down with our guests and relish all that is set before us.
Tasting a good meal is not just an experience for our taste buds. It is an experience that stirs all our senses and invites us into a community of fellowship and rich enjoyment. It is an experience that stays with us long after we walk out the door and return home. It will be evoked next time we catch a whiff of the same aromas that greeted us as we walked through the door.
We can experience the banquet feast of God and taste of the goodness of God every time we enter the presence of God fully prepared to savour all that God offers us. What are your favourite flavours? What are the festive celebrations that give you a taste of the goodness of God?
Watch this short excerpt from Babette’s Feast, (or the entire movie if you have time) one of the most beautiful depictions of the preparation and tasting of a festive meal. What would you be willing to do to prepare a feast of finest wine and richest food in order to truly experience the goodness of God.
It’s allergy season here in the Pacific NW, and like so many of us, at times I find it hard to breathe. It’s not always fun, but I do find that it reminds me of the preciousness of breath and of the One who gives me breath.
Of course, this is not the first breath prayer I have written. You might like to check out some of the others in this post or watch the video of the breathing meditation that was recorded at a seminar I taught earlier this year. Enjoy and breathe deeply!
From Christine Sine and Andy Wade
A Word From Christine Sine
It’s happening! MSA is once more growing and changing. Over the next few months I will transition out of leadership in MSA and hand over my administrative responsibilities to Andrew Wade, long-term MSA staff member and personal collaborator.
Andy inspires me with his provocative questions about sustainability, justice, and community. His ability to apply his contemplative interactions with nature to his life and neighbourhood has helped many of us to deepen our faith and engage more actively with our own neighbours, both local and global. His establishment and ongoing leadership of the Hood River Warming Shelter is but one example of his own personal concern for those at the margins.
Andy first began working with MSA in 2009 as our web designer and administrator. He has been pivotal in the development of our MSA resources and the expansion of the MSA store, with its growing array of free downloads and purchasable books, cards and downloads. He is a gifted communicator, already contributing weekly to Godspace and facilitating MSA’s Justice at the Table and Spirituality of Gardening workshops.
It is time for Andy’s gifts to be fully acknowledged and given space to flourish. We are very excited about this transition. For the next four months, Andy and I will share leadership, collaborating on the ongoing development of MSA, the running of Godspace, and the production of new resources. We will collaboratively plan the Celtic retreat August 5th-7th and are already implementing new ideas that Andy’s creativity is giving birth to.
This does not mean that Tom and I are disappearing from MSA, but it does mean that we will be freed up to focus on our writing, speaking and mentoring roles. I am excited about the opportunities this transition has already presented.
I am in discussions with a publisher about the possibility of another book project and have developed mentoring relationships with several young women around the world, I am looking forward to upcoming speaking engagements in Denver, at Wild Goose and A Rocha, as well as to this year’s Celtic retreat, which will be a wonderful celebration of the past and of the new things that are emerging. Tom will also be at Wild Goose as well as book launches for his new book, Live Like You Give a Damn! in Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Australia.
The Mustard Seed House community is also thriving through this transition time. With much help from our summer intern, Luke Winslow, the garden is flourishing. Our community meals Sunday afternoon, where we gather from all three apartments in the Mustard Seed House, are providing not just opportunity to share good food, fun, and fellowship but also to grapple with challenging theological questions.
Building at the Mustard Seed Village is on hold at the moment as we grapple with the implications of a new MSA for its development. We have some potential new partners and collaborators for the project and believe that this project, too, will flourish as we move forward.
A Word from Andy Wade
The past seven years have been an interesting and exciting journey with MSA. While Tom and I have been connected since 1984, and Christine and I since Tom and Christine were married 24 years ago, it wasn’t until 2009 that I officially became part of the MSA team. I had been a pastor the 18 years prior, first as founding pastor of Evergeen Mennonite Church in the Seattle area, and then as a missionary and church planter with my family in Hong Kong for 12 years.
When we returned to my home town of Hood River, Oregon in 2008, I really had no idea what I would do next. It didn’t seem I was to be planting or pastoring churches during this season, so I spent that first year doing odd jobs such as computer repair, constructing garden accessories, and general garden work. Soon it dawned on Christine, Tom and me that I could serve MSA by developing the website. And so it began.
It’s been exciting to see the development and growth of MSA over the years, even more since I officially became part of it. Our vision for the future is not so much to change MSA, but rather to build on its strengths and core values:
- encouraging sustainable spiritual practices
- learning from Celtic expressions of wholistic faith
- collaborating with individuals and organizations seeking a future of justice and hope
- promoting sustainability through learning from the past and adapting to an ever-changing future, and
- exploring new ways to live imaginatively/creatively into God’s future
I look forward to collaborating with Christine during this season of transition and working together with you in leading MSA and the Godspace community into a new season of growth, imagination, and faithful expressions of God’s love.
Thank you for your continued supportiveness and prayer for us.
God bless,
Christine Sine and Andy Wade
Co-Interim Directors, Mustard Seed Associates
By Andy Wade –
He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. Luke 5:36-38
This verse was swirling through my head as I re-potted plant starts. I imagined the roots trying to burst the pots as they out grew their containers. For many of my plants, it’s important to start the seeds in smaller containers so you can more easily monitor temperature and moisture. But as these plants grow, if it’s still too early to set them out into the garden, they need to be re-potted so the roots don’t knot up (become root bound) and the plants become sick.
As I re-potted my plants, I thought about the fact that all these roots sprang from the same seed. From that tiny beginning I already had a bundle of roots too numerous for their current container. A good start is essential to the overall health and longevity of a plant. Without a good start, the gardener is often forced to start over from scratch. But with a good start, she can soon set her sights on the future.
As the plant grows, it would be silly to keep it confined in the small container it was started in. Attempting to keep the plant cramped into such a small box would certainly lead to diminished growth, weakening the young shoot and crippling it from reaching its full potential, possibly even killing it altogether.
What seems obvious as a gardener is not always obvious when it comes to the spiritual life. When a new movement of God comes around I’m quite content to try to squeeze this new wine into old, inflexible wineskins and go merrily on my way. But by failing to look closely at the underlying assumptions associated with that old wineskin, I’m likely restricting the move into new things that God is offering.
I began to wonder how many times I’ve given up on something I thought was of God but got frustrated with it because it just wasn’t working out. Maybe God was calling me to step into a completely different container. Maybe what God had planned was just too big to fit into my puny assumptions. Maybe God was calling me into a little soul-soil disruption so that my roots could be un-bound, so that I could thrive in a new work that was bigger than I could ask or even imagine (Eph. 3:20).
Two Dangers: Moving On Too Quickly and Being Reluctant to Move at All
We live in times of constant change. When it comes to consuming, we’ve bought into the lie of “New and Improved”, purchasing new things before the old ones have worn out and salivating over the next new gadget to make our lives “better”. I’ve seen this issue infiltrate churches as they flit from program to program, the “latest great idea”, before giving the last “great idea” a chance to prove its worth. Whether springing from impatience at not seeing fast enough “results” or the perceived need to always be on the cutting edge, moving forward too quickly can kill a community just as effectively as an unwillingness to change.
But times are changing. Communities are changing. Assumptions and attitudes are changing. Sticking with Jesus’ parable, perhaps the new wine is from old grape vines but a new season, or from new vines producing their first crop. Either way it’s still new wine in a new season, which requires new wineskins. The old container is no longer suitable for the new things of God.
Back to my garden: I re-pot my tomatoes at least once, often twice, before they go into the yard. With tomatoes, a few things are at play. There’s a kind of incubation period in the greenhouse as plants develop below and above the soil. Plants take time to develop a healthy root system before they’re ready to be set out in the garden neighborhood. Both the plant and the garden neighborhood need to be ready.
With tomatoes there’s another interesting element at play. When I re-pot the plant, I carefully snip off the bottom several branches and bury the plant half-again its height into the soil. This approach appears counter-intuitive at first. Now my plants are half as tall with fewer branches and less foliage. But all those tiny hairs on the stalk of my tomato plant will now form new roots, easily doubling the root system that nourishes the plant. What’s lost in initial height is more than made up for in health and stability for the long-term.
Even before I plant the first seed I’ve closely observed my garden environment. I’ve pre-determined which plants will grow best, where in my garden they will be located, and what “neighbors” I will plant near them. Once the seeds are planted I need to monitor the plants and determine the right timing for re-potting. I need to read the environment outside and decide, based on the weather trends for this season, when is the best time to transplant them outside. With my tomatoes, I have the added opportunity to enhance their ability to thrive by further developing their root system prior to moving them into the garden. It’s not just a matter of a new pot or a new wineskin.
Looking back over my church and community involvements over the past thirty years, whether in Seattle, Hong Kong, or Hood River, I realize just how important these lessons from the garden are as I find myself asking:
- What areas of my life or ministry have become root-bound? Did I resist being “re-potted” or did I just not even ask if the current container was still appropriate to the task?
- Are there places I’ve moved on from too quickly? Why? What were the underlying assumptions, fears, or anxieties which prompted me to run ahead of God?
- Is God doing a new thing in my life/community/neighborhood? How can I best discern when the “temperature” is right to plant? Would there be an advantage to delaying in order to further develop the “root system” for greater vitality and longevity?
- Have I considered the broader “garden neighborhood”? How might this new initiative relate to the people and other things already going on in the community? Does this change how, when, and where I plant?
What are your thoughts?
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