Learning to Listen (1)

 

I. Required readings

 

            Psalm 81:8-13

            Matthew 9:9-13

            Luke 24:13-35

            James 3: 1-18

 

            Christian Biography for the Day: Matthew

            

            The Calling of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio
(Look carefully at the painting and read the commentary.)

 

            Linda Douty, "Listening for God."

            

            Harvey Mackay, “We Learn More By Listening Than By Talking.”

Karyn Gagnon, "Learning to Listen" (TedxTalk)

 

 

            Read through syllabus; come prepared to ask questions about anything you don’t understand.

 

II. Quotation for the day

 

            “The first service one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them.  Just as love of God begins in listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them.  It is God’s love for us that He not only gives us His Word but lends us His ear.  So it is His works that we do for our brother when we learn to listen to him. . . . Many people are looking for an ear that will listen.  They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening.  But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon no longer be listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God too. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life. . . . Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies.”

 

            --Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (1954), pp. 97-98

 

           

III. Journal prompts (For your first journal entry, answer the following two questions in a Word document that begins with your name and the date.  Save the document; your'll post your response to a Google Drive once small groups have been set up.  You'll want to write at least a paragraph in response to each of the prompts.)

 

            Why do you think it’s so hard to really listen?

            

            What aspects of American culture discourage genuine listening?  Encourage it?