...A few posts ago, a day after returning from my latest trip to New Orleans, I made a few short comments about the importance of listening. Since then, I've received several other messages that come right back around to an emphasis on listening. Good listening seems to have implications which affect all areas of life from simple day-to-day relationships to complex restorative justice issues around the globe.
In all our good intentioned drive, desire, and busyness to see justice and redemption take place to "the least of these" we can overlook the most important needs of those we are seeking to help. In his new book, Everything Must Change, Brian McLaren calls this, "excessive confidence." Excessive confidence is a good term to help explain the faulty assumptions and irresponsible oversights which have wrecked havoc on the world and tainted the reputation of the church.
When I go into the inner city to serve a meal to the homeless or get on a plane to fly down to New Orleans to build a house, what is my posture? Do I consciously or unconsciously see myself as one in a position of power and superiority? I may not see myself that way but I'm learning that when I do not listen well, I inadvertantly create those power dynamics.
Brian's careful use of the term, excessive confidence, brings another layer of the conversation to mind, which I'll call sacred symantics. After listening well, when we do choose to speak, what words do we use? For example, when we go downtown to serve a meal to homeless folks do we say "we're doing this for the homeless?" Does it make a difference if I replace for with amongst or with? Careful consideration and simple tweaks to our words (semantics) can re-arrange the power dynamic. Christ, although powerful, spent his time in powerlessness among the poor, homeless, and marginalized. He became one of them. And he modeled appropriate questions and careful listening before us. He obliterated the power dynamic.
Check out the story of Jesus in healing the blind guy in Matthew 20: 29-34. The two blind men were trying to get his attention, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" The crowd did their best to shut these guys up as if Jesus was in a class above these men, too important to associate with such needy people. And Jesus' response was a simple question, "What do you want me to do for you?" I used to always scratch my head at that response wondering why in the world if Jesus was God and God was Jesus would he ask that question. Now, I think I'm beginning to understand. Jesus was destroying the power dynamic. He didn't assume to know what it was that the man needed most. He approached him as a man as powerless as the blind man himself. He was amongst and with and modeled it for us through considerate presence, good questions, and careful words.
Approaching issues of justice mean, like anything in life, taking a few swings and misses. But the good hitters go back to the dugout with a better understanding of what it will take to make contact the next time they stand at the plate. So, for those, like myself, seeking to help restore broken hearts, relationships, neighborhoods, or cities, be prepared to go in with ears ready to listen and be ready to be alright with powerlessness.
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