06.01.07
leader as listener
“The Christian Church came into being at Pentecost. The gift of the Holy Spirit on that occasion is generally called the gift of tongues, but it might equally well be called the gift of ears…. As Sir William Osler said: half of us are blind, few of us feel, and we are all deaf. As writers, readers, human beings, we cannot speak to or understand each other unless we are first prepared to listen. Of all the gifts which the Holy Spirit is able to bestow, the one for which we should first and most earnestly pray is humility of ear.” W. H. Auden
Stan Biggs said,
June 1, 2007 at 8:14 am
“humility of ear”…..I am indicted by this phrase, being given to rendering opinion, critique and synthesis with the slightest breeze. Blind, deaf and without much feeling, I suffer the paralysis of having relied on the flimsy callipers of my own intellect and experience, bereft of this brand of humility. Fact of the matter is that I don’t always like what I hear because the ground upon which I stand is revealed as other than solid rock and I prefer my illusions to the pain of navigating from ego-soaked sand to enduring stability.
I was going to say “shit” but this is civilized company.
Larry Lewis said,
June 1, 2007 at 9:15 pm
This moves me so deeply I have no words
Kingdom Journalism » The Gift of Ears said,
June 20, 2008 at 10:26 am
[...] (HT: Len Hjmarlson) [...]
Kingdom Journalism » The Gift of Ears said,
June 20, 2008 at 10:26 am
[...] (HT: Len Hjalmarson) [...]