Listening Trumps Liturgy

Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear (Psalm 40:6a ESV).

Listening is hard work. I’ve decided that after years in the ministry, those of us who are supposed to have a capacity for listening often master techniques that give the impression of listening – the well timed nod or “humph” of affirmation. All the while we’re sleepy or preoccupied or just somewhere else.

In my pastorate a few years ago in North Carolina, Miss Cloyce was the oldest member of our congregation. She was 98 when I did her funeral in December of 2001. She was also my next door neighbor. Long stretches between pastoral visits didn’t go unnoticed. I liked Cloyce and enjoyed talking with her, but she kept her house very warm. Perhaps I’m just remembering visits made during the winter months. Still, regardless of the season, my memories of visiting Cloyce are marked by the warmth of the house and the comfort of the chair she would have me seated in. It was always the same chair - one of those rocking chairs that actually slides, the sliding somehow simulating the smooth motion of rocking.

After a few minutes in that smooth sliding chair, as the warmth of the house soaked into me, giving attentive pastoral care became nearly impossible. If I happened to visit her after lunch time, well . . . forget it. It was all I could do to hold my head up. And the weird part of this is that I had some conscious awareness that I was struggling to listen (struggling to stay awake) but the awareness did little to help me focus and engage. To my knowledge I never lapsed into a full blown head-dropping- zone-out moment while visiting Cloyce. I can only hope that my zombie like presence wasn’t too obvious to her. Listening is hard work.

And as important as it is to listen well to others, this pales against the importance of listening well to God. There’s no shortage of counsel on how to listen to God. I won’t venture to add anything to that. But what strikes me about Psalm 40:6 is the priority of listening. The Psalmist says that the religious activities of sacrifice and offering rank below listening. Listening trumps liturgy. There’s a footnote in my bible that says that the Hebrew of 40:6a literally reads “ears you have dug for me.” That’s an amazing picture. It suggests that listening isn’t simply something I do, but something that God allows me to do and helps me to do.

Activity – even good worship activity like sacrifice and offering – is always easier than listening. Listening requires outward stillness coupled with inner rigor and focus. It’s exhausting. But if listening is neglected, the liturgy quickly becomes rote.

I want to listen more and better. Clutter makes it difficult. If not clutter, a life that’s comfortable and warm lulls me to inattention. I need help like everyone else. I need God to come and open my ears and give me the capacity to listen.