Listening for God’s Word

Because we now have Bibles in the pews, I asked that we stop printing the lessons out like we normally do. I know that some of you have found it disruptive, but it saves some paper and tidies up our bulletin a little bit.

But, for me, it's more than saving paper. When we read God’s word in worship, I want you to listen for God’s Word.  

I don’t want you proofreading the bulletin or making sure that the lector gets every word right, I want you to sit up and carefully try to hear what God is saying to you that day.

I know sometimes you can’t physically hear what someone is saying. So the Bibles are placed there to help. Also, the large print versions of the bulletin still carry the full text. Plus, we tell you in Peace Signs what the lessons are for the upcoming week, so you can certainly glance at them before you come to worship.

But listening is different than reading. Listening forces you to lean in with all your attention, to discern the rhythm of the words, and to seek the words that are said between the words.

I encourage you to try it as a worship discipline. When God’s Word is read each week, try to set all of the other musings in your brain off to the side and concentrate on what God would have you hear that day.

If you really listen, you will hear somethings that you’ve never heard before in a particular text even though you’ve heard it hundred of times. If you really listen, you will pick up on extra things and strange things in the text. If you really listen, you will allow God’s Word to move in you in new ways.

So . . .give it a try. You’ll be surprised by what you’ll hear.

In Christ,

Pastor John D. Morris