Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

As the Scripture reading begins, the congregation listens with expectation and eagerness. The desire to hear God's Word silences all other voices and focuses the concentration. Well, sometimes. Other times, the congregation fidgets, glances down at the bulletin, quiets a noisy child, looks out of the window, notices the time, all the while wondering whether to go out to lunch or fix something at home. Listening is not always easy. Even when the preacher begins to preach – making eye contact and using expressive gestures – listening requires effort. Twice a day observant Jews recite a prayer called the Shema, beginning with the words “Hear (shema), O Israel” (Deuteronomy 6: 4). By reciting these words so often, they are reminded that their first task as God's people is to listen. The prayer continues by reminding them that listening calls forth obedience, “You shall love the Lord,” and that listening for God's Word is a continuing process, “keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children … Bind them as a sign on your hand … and write them on the doorposts of your house” (Deuteronomy 6: 6–9). God's command that Israel “hear” is not so different from a parent asking a child, “Are you listening?,” by which the parent really means, “If you are listening you will do what I ask you.” To hear God is to obey God. (The word “obedience” derives from ... log in or subscribe to read full text