Monday, May 2, 2016

Easter 37 Listen

As writers, readers, human beings, we cannot speak to or understand  each other unless we are first prepared to listen. Of all the gifts which the Holy Spirit is able to bestow, the one for which we should first and most earnestly pray is humility of ear. [W.H. Auden, sermon delivered for College Evensong, Christ Church, Oxford, October 24th, 1965]

A certain, true thing is that if you're talking, you cannot listen. There is a time to speak, of course, but there is also a time to listen. This is a hard lesson to learn, and I think it goes beyond using our voice, but also refers to quieting the mind.

I just ran across the above sermon by Auden. "Humility of ear" is my new favorite phrase. As we are in the homestretch towards Pentecost, this gift seems appropriate as we listen for the Wind/Breath/Spirit.

Resurrection may come as a whisper.

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