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Editorial:
Doing what it says on the tin Comment:
Stat crux dum volvitur orbis p.s. Seeing red and feeling blue The
elusiveness of trust on the ethnic frontier Beliefs,
values and spirituality Citizenship Creating
Community Interview
with Jose & Marizete Lara: Laboratory for mission Transforming
Culture That's
not fair! Review:
A Heart to Listen Review:
How to Detox your Spiritual Life in 40 Days Review:
Praying in Exile |
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review: THE AUTHOR of this book was previously Deputy Director of the Acorn Christian Foundation which heads up Christian Listeners. As a boss and as a friend, he encapsulated all the qualities of a listener that are rarely found in a noisy and superficial world. In this captivating book he invites you to take a journey of discovery about what lies at the heart of listening. In doing so you will realise how difficult and how rewarding becoming a good listener is. The clever use of a narrative tale, running through the book, serves as a parable to convey the main theme of each chapter. It is entirely fictional and based in Africa where what he experienced had a profound effect on him. It explores how with God’s help we can relearn the art of listening and develop a heart that naturally listens. In doing so we can become a source of help and healing for others and for ourselves. Despite the fact that it is really not difficult to learn to listen well, most of us find all kinds of ‘Ivory Towers’ to retreat to, and fail to give the level of listening that is so badly needed. Chapter 3 helps us to identify what our ‘Ivory Towers are and how we can come down from them. We will all recognise ourselves here! In our society, encountering difference is something we are all familiar with. When we meet someone who is different, we are given a choice, to retreat to safety or to encounter the unknown. Michael explores how listening is a true expression of ‘agape’ love – that if we are disciples of Jesus we are required to listen to ‘our enemy’, the one who is different to us, whose values we don’t share, who annoys us. You know, the one who just has to open his mouth for us to know that what he says is wrong! He shows that by listening to someone we can actually start to meet the person rather than the argument. Perhaps then the mechanism for reconciliation can be put into place? It helps us to think about our wounded planet and open our ears to those in the particularly troubled areas of our world. I think, above all, this book will surprise many, as it uncovers the enormous depths and profound impact that something so simple as ‘listening’ can have on each one of us and the people we encounter. They will also discover, as many have done, that listening is one of the most healing and precious gifts that anyone can possess. That we can each be the ears of the body of Christ so that people know they are not alone! This book is an easy read, in short chapters that you can absorb, a bit at a time. But I doubt that you will be able to put it down. It will inspire and challenge. But it will also remind us that listening is a ministry committed to us by Him who is Himself the great listener and whose work we should all share. LYNNE LIVINGSTONE is Co-ordinator of Christian Listeners Ireland. |
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