Ears that Hear

He who has ears, let him hear. [Matthew 11:15]

Over my lifetime in the the church, I had been part of a number of baptisms and present at many more. But it had been at least 5 years since the last one. Then one Sunday, not that long ago, I inadvertently ended up at a church service where baptisms were being celebrated. Had I known in advance, I might not have been there. I didn’t know the families and wasn’t even a regular attendee at the church. Following the act of baptism, the priest prayed over the newly baptized just before passing over the lit candle that represents the light of Christ. It was at the point that things got very unfamiliar to me. I had heard this prayer many times before, but I had never heard this prayer! Apparently I had never had ‘ears’ before at this place in the liturgy, because I was surprised by what that prayer asked. In part it says of the newly baptized: “Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works."

What makes it even more intriguing is that when I recounted this experience to others, I was asked ‘What prayer? What did it say?”. So I pulled The B.A.S. [Book of Alternative Services] off the shelf and read it out to them. Although they were all life-long members of the Anglican Church, the words were new to them as well, and they agreed with me that these were words that each of us would want to apply to ourselves. What more could any of us want, both for ourselves and for others, than that we mature by asking questions and discerning the answers with our hearts, that we show courage and perseverance in how we live our lives, that spiritually we grow to know and love our creator or as Paul Tillich said, ‘the ground of Being-itself’, and that our lives are crowned with the awe and wonder of all creation.

In a way this reminded me of the experience of coming home after being away for a few days and all a once seeing the cracks in the ceiling or the the faded upholstery. How, I would ask myself, could I live with these things on a daily basis and not notice them? In the same way, how could these words have been heard, so often, yet in reality remain unheard?

That question is not just for me, but also I think points up one of the major challenges within the church itself. How can the church help those regularly sitting in the pews to actually be present during the service, hearing with ears that actually are tuned in to hear the message being shared? Perhaps more hands-on participation or experiencing more ownership of the liturgical content might be the answer. I don’t know what the answer is, but somehow those of us in 'the comfortable pew' need to hear with new ears…

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