Are you really listening?
A young cleric was once asked by his boss to stand in and preach at short notice. The Bible reading was the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19), a tax collector who was desperate to see Jesus but was vertically challenged and so climbed a tree to a get a better view. “Zacchaeus was a short man,” began the cleric’s impromptu sermon, “so am I. Zacchaeus was up a tree; so am I. Zacchaeus got down immediately; so will I. Amen.”
Why am I telling you this? Well, I may not be young (having retired to Hereford 6 years ago) but I am short, and Bishop Richard has asked me to stand in for him while he is away, so I am clearly up a tree. What will it involve? Will I cope? Will anyone find whatever I can contribute remotely helpful? Perhaps you recognise the feeling as you look ahead to the rest of 2025 and what it has in store for you.
Jesus responded to Zacchaeus’ predicament by inviting himself to tea. So, number one for me is to try and remember to check for a spiritual cuppa with Christ as often as I can and keep my ears open for what he might have to say. Some call it prayer, but if a quiet walk, with Our Lord in mind, along the riverbank does it for you, go for it.
And I hope, too, that I will keep my listening ears on as I get to meet at least some of you out there. When Jesus met another person in need, a blind beggar called Bartimaeus (Matthew 20), he asked him, “What do want me to do for you?” Unsurprisingly, Bartimaeus was 200% clear that the answer was to see again. But it’s desperately easy, especially when you’re in the role of the (not really very) great and (not as) good (as people think you are), to make assumptions and end up giving people stuff that they neither want nor need. In his famous book The Screwtape Letters, C S Lewis described someone as, “the sort of woman who lives for others – you can tell the others by their hunted expression.” I do hope I don’t end up like her, and there’s perhaps a moral here too for all of us as we again look ahead into a New Year and wonder what we might take on or do.
And I’ll risk a third “listening” too. (This blog like the young cleric’s sermon follows the well-trodden path of having three points…) As I turn 73, I think I’ll need to be listening to myself, to my body, hearing what it has to say, as yet again I fall into the Action Man trap and try and do too much, too soon, and too unreflectively. As a younger person, perhaps, I wished I could bi-locate and get twice as much done. Now I see not having that gift as a blessing: just a morning’s light dusting can do me in for the day. I’ll still pray for strength of body of course, and acuity of mind – but the wisdom of the spirit is what I suspect I will need and pray for most. I’ll pray for you too: and I’ll be grateful if you’d pray for me.