Faith Comes from What is Heard
(Isaiah 35:1-7; Mark 7:31-37; Romans 10:11-17)
So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes from the word of Christ. (Rom. 10:17)
Some years ago—it may even be going on 20 years!—a striking film called
“Children of a Lesser God” came out. It was the story of a teacher called James
Leeds, played by William Hurt, who worked in a school for people with serious
hearing problems. In the course of his work he meets and falls in love with a
young deaf woman called Sarah Norman (played by the wonderful Marlee Matlin who
in real life is profoundly deaf, so she plays the part with stunning authenticity).
At one point in the story the two lovers have a tough and demanding day. They
collapse at home. James selects a record and puts it on his player and plonks
down in a chair to listen. He is a J S Bach fan, and the piece he plays is from
the second movement of the famous double violin concerto. And sitting there,
with his eyes closed, a look of bliss on his face, this is what he hears. [Start the first part of the music here about 60 seconds or so.] …… Suddenly he gets up and stops the record. [Stop music here] ……………… Sarah, who has
been sitting nearby, notices his action and asks in sign language: “Why have
you stopped listening?” He replies in sign, “I can’t enjoy it because you
can’t.” A while later as James is getting ready for bed, suddenly the Bach
music rings out through the house. [Music
on here] ………. Sarah
has put the record on. Puzzled, he turns toward her with the music flooding
around him. And she signs to him, “Show me the music.” “Show you the music?” he
signs back in astonishment. She nods. And so he tries, with face, arms, fingers
contorted, he tries to enact the sound that is washing around them. But after a
while he drops his hands. [Music off
here] ………… “I can’t,” he says. “I can’t
show you the music.” It is a confronting and poignant moment and we who watch
it feel the anguish on both sides of the sound barrier.
Hearing is a unique and irreplaceable channel of connection with the
world. The suffering associated with its loss is felt in the film and in the
story of Jesus’ healing the deaf man of Sidon by Galilee. Think of the sounds
you love most. Well (for me), great Bach music; but that’s my taste, you can
think of other notes and sounds that move you and lift your spirits and
transport you to other worlds. The voices of people we love, our spouse, our
children, our friends. The sound of the magpie’s song, the stir of the breeze
in the trees, the long, low roar of the surf as we walk on beaches at the south
coast. The sounds of the world, the voices of people, the music of the spheres!
What an extraordinary gift is hearing! If we think of our embodied selves as
the creation of God, and I hope we do, then ears and their hearing are a brilliant
part of that creation. And perhaps our very first response should be gratitude.
Thanks be to God that we can hear and speak to each other! Thanks be to God for
J S Bach and wind and surf and magpies!
And, having mentioned God in this context, let me turn to Paul’s famous
text: “So faith comes from what is heard …”. Hearing is a major channel of
communication with the world. And hearing, according to Paul, is a major
pathway for encounter and communion with God. One of the central pictures of
God given in the Bible is of God the speaker; which places us, and all
creation, in the role of hearers. In the beginning God speaks, ‘let there be
light’, and light and indeed all created being springs into life. In Jesus
Christ, God speaks, the Word becomes flesh and lives among us. And we hear a
call to faith, and forgiveness and action for peace and justice. And the church
springs into life.
We know the way in which the word of God reaches our ears. We are
involved in its auditory dynamics right now. The central word of God in our
tradition is Jesus Christ, the living word, the word made flesh. But the ‘word
of Christ’ as Paul calls it comes to us via the witness of the written word.
The bible and especially the word of the Gospel, say the story of Jesus healing
the deaf man. That word comes to us now as we read it together. And then there
is the living word of the moment. The voice of our encounter with the story: me talking from the pulpit; more
important, your reflection upon and reception of the word. And then there is
the deep mystery of the Spirit. It is not only Jesus as the word made flesh,
and the witness of scripture to that word, and our words reflecting on those
communications. It is also the living presence of the Holy Spirit who moves
within and between us, and takes these words and makes them alive in our
hearts. Christ, scripture, talk, thought, Spirit, in that complex of happenings
God speaks and (hopefully) we hear. We hear a word which is God’s own. And that
means not information about God; but God’s own presence with us. Here. Now.
My grandchildren live in Melbourne. I don’t get to see them very often.
But I do get to talk to them from time to time on the telephone. The other day
my little granddaughter, Sasha, all of 3 years old, came on the phone with her
wonderful child’s voice, whose tone and music I would recognize instantly and anywhere,
it is so distinctively her. She must have been instructed by her mother because
she opened up with, “hello grandpa. I love you.” Well that’s a knock out. I’m
ready to agree to almost anything after that!
She went on, and here’s where I’m sure the parental instruction came in,
“Grandpa why aren’t you down here with us; we miss you!” What possible defense
could I have against that? The word hit straight home. A person’s heartfelt
word brings a person, in this case a beloved grandchild, right into our inner
spirit. Sasha was there with me, not somewhere 600 km away. The voice, the
word, the tone, the meaning all convey the person.
And that is true analogously of the word of God. When God speaks and we truly
hear, communion takes place; a meeting of persons; of spirits; of meaning; of
life. God’s word is God in God’s self-giving to us. And that is what we mean by
grace and salvation: the presence of God’s life in communion with our life.
I know that our Baptist tradition (along with many other Reformation
churches) has placed a huge emphasis on this channel of God’s presence: hearing
the word. The very structure of our worship service reflects it. We listen to a
lot of scripture being read. We sit through a lot of sermons being preached. We
pray for the presence of the Spirit to illumine us. We discuss scripture in our
various groups. And that is great. But there are some dangers. One is the
temptation to get very wordy. It can
all get very much up in our heads. The words go in here and stick in our
brains. And sometimes we confuse things, and think that knowing words is the
same as having faith. Or that faith is knowing and believing certain doctrines.
And that’s important, but it’s not
the kind of hearing Paul has in mind. We don’t control the word of God in
sentences. The word of God comes, a bit like Sasha’s word on the phone, as a
living presence which meets, confronts, communes with and transforms us. Like
the music of Bach’s violins: alive; gripping; gracious; surprising;
challenging.
A second danger can be that we forget that God has other ways of meeting
us. This is partly what our series on the living faith in the flesh is about.
God has given us many means of communication and reception of God’s world and of
God’s life. The ear is vital. And listening is wonderful when it works. But
there is also seeing and touching and tasting and smelling; and other channels
as well. Let’s not neglect them! As Paul says in another place “if the whole
body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing,
where would the sense of smell be?” (I Cor. 12:17). Our communion with the
world and our communion with God need to be balanced according to the gifts God
has given us.
So two things thus far. Hearing is a gift of God. Let us remember it,
appreciate it, give thanks for it. And the ear is a channel for the presence
and grace of God. The word of God comes to us; and faith comes from what is
heard.
I want to finish with one down to earth implication of all this. If it is
important to listen to the things God has to say; it is also important that,
having heard something of that word, and discovering that it is a word of love,
acceptance, grace and challenge, that we as a community, as the body of Christ
in the world, reflect that in our actions. It is an important aspect of our
church’s life and mission that we be a listening people; a people of the
empathetic ear. That we give others the chance to speak their stories, their
lives, their sorrows, their hopes. And we hear them. Meryl spoke the other week
about how her study group had listened to the story of two women refugees to
our land; to hear what had happened to them; to listen to their suffering; and
to allow words of hope to take root in their hearts and ours. [Music on here softly] ………………….Such listening
can transform lives, and transform the world around us. It is of great
significance for our church. I hope we can keep it in mind and think of new
ways in which to be hearers of one another. For in hearing each other, we
listen each other into life and into new life. And let us dare to hope that in
hearing each other’s stories, we also hear the wind of the Spirit of God as it
moves in our hearts. The word which God speaks is a word that moves within and
between and through us all.
Thanks be to God for hearing. Thanks be to God for God’s word lived,
written, spoken, and received. Thanks be to God for each other; for our
individual stories and for the opportunity to hear them.
“So faith comes from what
is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.”
Graeme Garrett
Canberra Baptist Church
First Sunday in Lent
13th March 2011