Enter Listening

We visited an old church in an old town recently. Some helpful soul felt led to instruct the 

congregation in various ways via the magic of the computer printer. 

STACK CHAIRS HERE

KEEP DOOR CLOSED AT ALL TIMES

CHURCH KITCHEN CLOSES AT 8 PM

I think we can all conjure a pretty vivid image of the person who plastered the church 

building with instructional missives held fast by folded masking tape bundles.

But wait - look at this one:

This one caught me by the arm. 

This instruction, LISTEN, rung a bell in my spirit. 

Do you know what I mean when I say that? 

Have you ever had one of those YES! moments? When something someone says, 

or something you read, grabs you by the lapel and gives you a shake? 
And you know, you know for sure, a message has been sent especially for you? 

Or maybe that's just me. 

I don't know about you, friends, but LISTENING is not at the top of my list when 

I enter the church sanctuary. You can be pretty sure that I've made a reasonable effort

that my clothes match. It's a reliable fact that I'll have coffee and a bulletin in hand. 

And you can bet I'm thinking of who might already be waiting for me 

inside, what we'll say, and how we'll laugh.

Yes, it's for sure - I do not enter the sanctuary LISTENING. 

But I think there might be more for all of us than coffee, announcements, 

and churchy chuckles when we come together. There's probably more to be 
heard than our own vain voices, if we just took a moment to enter listening. 

I'm going to make this a priority for the next few Sundays and see what happens.
Whoever printed that page will have one more obedient parishioner than she 
(or he) hoped for. 

Or maybe more than one - would you like to join me? We could Enter Listening in our respective church sanctuaries wherever we attend, all over the globe. 
Who knows what might happen...