Dear Westwood Family,

The word “just” can mean a lot of different things. It can be minimizing–as in “I’m not doing anything, I’m just listening.” It can also mean fair, like a just resolution, or exact, like a just measure. It can give instruction or caution: just wait. 

This week, I’m away from Los Angeles, helping lead a retreat as a part of a Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation, a ministry of the Upper Room. One of our courses at this retreat is about prayer; it’s taught by Dr. Heidi Miller of Mercer University, whose work has focused on holy listening as a tool of transformation. “Just Listening,” she calls it–fully aware that this phrase can be read in several ways.

I’ve been appreciating the way that it invites us to a kind of faithful restraint: as spiritual companions to one another, we are called not to heroically attempt to fix everything for everyone else, but to “just listen.” I think of how transformative it has been in my own life when people have bothered to take the time to truly listen to me. Listening honors the personhood of the one who speaks; giving attention is a way of honoring the belovedness of the one being listened to. To be truly heard is such a beautiful gift.

“Just listening” also builds relationships among people, with trust and understanding. It seeks justice, reconciliation, mercy, and compassion.

And, of course, prayer creates a space in which we listen for the call or nudge of God. Sometimes in an insight that helps us see things in a new way, or in a sense that there’s something we’re called to do, or with a clear message of direction, we are always more likely to hear God speaking into our lives when we “just listen.”

Back in August, when Pastor Diana and leaders in our Care Ministry led a training event for care, we began with a training exercise in this kind of holy listening as a faithful way of care-giving. Again this week, I echo and affirm how important, beautiful, and transformative this can be.

So, this week, again, I invite you to find someone to listen to. Ask curious questions, and listen for real answers. (Don’t just listen so that you have a good response. Or rebuttal.) I will join you in doing the same.

grace and peace,
Pastor Molly