Holy Week part 2

Click here to read Mark 14:66-72

Did Peter hear the cock crow the first time? Did the sound of the cock-a-doodle-doo actually register in his conscious thought or was it back ground noise to all the other thoughts racing around his mind? Did fear block his listening and hearing?

True listening is hard. The physical reason for that is our mind can process words and thoughts faster than someone we are talking to can speak them. So, even as we are trying to ‘hang on every word,’ our mind still has the capacity to be contemplating our response when the other person stops speaking. Also, our mind is able to fill when we miss a word or a whole sentence with what makes sense to us.

The problem is that we really are not listening. My hunch is Peter’s mind was swimming with thoughts and fears. Remember, this is happening sometime in the middle of night, which at least for me is not my most coherent time. When we are caught not listening we make excuses: we are tired, we are in a rush, we know the other person well enough to assume we know what she is talking about, and other ways we try to sidestep responsibility. The truth is within a faith community, listening is core to who we are. It is one of the ways we affirm that the person we are listening to is crafted in the loving and whole image of God.

That sounds great when we are talking about the weather or the Brewers, but it is so much more difficult when we talk about social issues and our faith or when we disagree with someone else. To listen to someone who holds a different point of view is as exhausting as running a marathon. Our bodies tense up and our minds go into hyper-drive. To calmly listen as someone says something you disagree with, to listen with all your strength, mind, open heart and love to see if maybe there is some connection or how you can respond with grace and love to the other person is one of the greatest challenges of faith today. I feel that because it is modeled precious little in our world today.

Peter was not able to hear the rooster the first time. He was so caught up in his thoughts and his fear and his stuff that he missed what was going on around him. And when he realized what happened, he broke down and wept. I weep too at the lack of listening in our world. I weep too at the ways we settle for surface level hearing. I weep too when we’d rather make our point and prove someone wrong rather than listen. My prayer for you is to listen. Listen to a friend who you disagree with and to a co-worker and to the birds chirping in the trees and to the checkout clerk at Woodmans and especially to fellow church members and family members. Blessings for you and me as we seek to clean out our ears and listen today. Amen.