Listen and then Speak

more thoughts on Pentecost

I found this quotation in a sermon preached in 2001:  A wise Presbyterian, the late Hugh T. Kerr, once said, "Our failure to communicate is not a failure of technique but will. We don’t want to communicate. We’d rather shout one another down."

That is true of some political speech and some religious speech.  But it is not just shouting that causes the failure.  How often have you heard the first three or four words your spouse, friend, neighbor … whoever it was … said and you are already forming the sentence you are going to start once they pause for breath?  You will not shout at them, but you are probably not going to communicate with them.  Or, what you communicate is – here is what I wish to say whether it fits what you said or not.

So, unless the Spirit does send us out into the street with a specific message (and if that happens to you, email or reply to me so we can converse about how you knew it was the Spirit and not an evil demon) I suggest that as those who have been given the Spirit the best way to speak so that others will hear/listen/understand us is to begin by listening to what they are saying.  Faith only “speaks” to people in specific ways.  I have not found  statements such as  “Jesus is the answer” or “Let go and let God”  are not helpful until we know the question and what Jesus might have said or done that would be an answer, or until we can discern what it is that is being grasped so firmly that it is harmful to our lives.

Peter Gomes once remarked that Pentecost is not only about the gift of speech but also about the gift of understanding. 

Try reversing  the usual order.  Listen and make sure you understand before you speak.  That may make the Spirit more likely to fill you and use you.