March 13, 2018
 
 
 
 
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Led by the Holy Spirit,
St. John's mission is to inspire people to grow into the heart and mind of Christ by engaging together in worshiping, serving, and spiritual formation.

 
 
 
 
 

Sacred Listening

 
 
 
 

This week’s column reflects on one holy gathering and invites readers to another, on Sunday April 15th following the 9:30am service.


Since 2015, a group of parishioners has been educating themselves and others about the scourge of gun violence in our nation and the wide range of opinions about guns in our parish. The group has been active in working for legislation to try and curb the proliferation of assault-style weapons, keep guns out of schools, promote a better system of background checks, and ban the sale of high-capacity magazines and bump stocks. They’ve participated in the tolling of our church bells and prayers for those who have died as a result of incidents of mass gun violence. It might be tempting for some to type-cast the members of this group as uniformly gun-shunning. In November, we learned that nothing could be further from the truth.


It began as just another Gun Violence Prevention Ministry (GVP) meeting. About a dozen parishioners came together to discern some goals for their ministry. They began by listening to the reports of a couple of people who’d just returned from relevant conferences. Following those reports, one brave soul told the story of why she owns a handgun. It was powerful and moving story and shattered some stereotypes. It was transformative not only for the listeners but for the group as a whole.


Then, going around the table, each person spoke of their relationship with guns. Two more people revealed that they too own firearms. Another person spoke about his father, a medical examiner, who had to deal with the wreckage guns cause to the human body. A couple others spoke about how guns and hunting were simply a part of life growing up in a house with brothers.


People listened intently with the goal of empathy and understanding, and not with the goal of correcting, refuting, or sorting one another into boxes marked “ally” or “enemy”. One contemporary author notes that there is a “difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak.” [1] Another author observes that “the greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words.” [2] At the GVP meeting, everyone listened with curiosity, and listened for what was “behind the words.”


I think when this kind of listening happens it makes a place for the Holy Spirit to come and nest. Among her other roles, the Holy Spirit sanctifies human activity. She turns the bread and wine at Communion into the body and blood of Christ. She turns an ordinary meeting into a sacred circle of trust and the opening of hearts. Everyone present agreed that something holy had taken place—something they wanted more of; something they wanted to share with the parish and perhaps beyond.


And it became clear that at this table sat a microcosm of our community, and perhaps our nation, in that there was a great diversity of experience and opinion. Something else that became clear was that everyone was sick and tired of the polarity that surrounds the issue of gun ownership and gun violence. The group felt that polarization and vilification have thwarted progress toward common sense solutions. The group expressed a desire to find a middle-way forward—to shift control of the firearms conversation away from the extremists on both sides and move it toward some common ground.


Finding a middle way is very Anglican thing to do. Although the phrase “via media” (Latin for “the middle road”) was not coined as an Anglican ecclesial term until around 1834 [3], the theologians of the English Reformation understood themselves as offering a middle way between the extremes of the church in Rome and the Protestants.


The members of the GVP ministry want to sponsor a parish-wide dialogue in which everyone—gun owners and anti-gun folks alike—can feel comfortable speaking honestly; a conversation where those who speak can share their fears and suspicions without being judged; where no person or group is bad-mouthed; where everyone present listens to each other with curiosity and respect; and where a “via media” or middle road forward might emerge. The GVP ministry met with a professional facilitator—who’s a member of our parish—to plan a gathering for Sunday April 15th, following the 9:30am service. You are warmly invited, regardless of how you feel about firearms. In fact, the GVP ministry is hoping for a diversity of opinion and experiences. These are what will make the dialogue richer and create the space for the Spirit to enter in. And in the end, that’s why we’re all in this community of faith: to offer ourselves to be transformed by the power of the Spirit.

 

[1] Simon Sinek, BrainyQuote.com

[2] Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart, Goodreads.com

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_media