I’m not very good at waiting which is why Advent is a difficult season when waiting is a holy activity. Nathan was with me when we picked out his Christmas present, then I hid it. 
Like son, like father, neither of us is very skilled at waiting. Even now, Carrie, Cayla, and Abbie are about two hours away. Waiting on them to make the trip this week has taken longer than any trip I’ve ever made.
Dawn Neff sent me this devotional which came quite timely I want to share with all and any of you who share my impatience in character.
Dawn Neff sent me this devotional which came quite timely I want to share with all and any of you who share my impatience in character.
Listening from Tomorrow by San Francisco Theological Seminary Professor, Dr. Virstan Choy.
“(I am) the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me according to your prediction.”
The theme for this year’s Advent devotions is a helpful reminder of the multi-sensory nature of Advent and other journeys of hope: It is not just about seeing (vision); it’s at least also about hearing (listening). And according to Donald Zimmer, as with Advent journeys, so with leadership: “To govern effectively within the church, leaders must first be able to listenindividually and together to God.”(Zimmer, Leadership and Listening: Spiritual Foundations for Church Governance).
But in my work with leaders of congregations in search of hope in the midst of uncertain futures, and leaders seeking hope in the midst of seemingly intractable conflicts, the key to listening is what organizational consultant Michael Black calls “listening from tomorrow,” rather than listening from yesterday or even today. To listen from tomorrow is to engage in what Otto Scharmer calls “generative listening” in his book, Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges — listening in which one intentionally seeks to let go of the perceptions and attachments that inevitably form when what one is hearing is information that arouses one’s feelings. Such listening requires that we suspend our judgment about how things are or ought to be so that we can be more open to the potential that surrounds us and fills us.
“(I am) the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me according to your prediction.”
The theme for this year’s Advent devotions is a helpful reminder of the multi-sensory nature of Advent and other journeys of hope: It is not just about seeing (vision); it’s at least also about hearing (listening). And according to Donald Zimmer, as with Advent journeys, so with leadership: “To govern effectively within the church, leaders must first be able to listenindividually and together to God.”(Zimmer, Leadership and Listening: Spiritual Foundations for Church Governance).
But in my work with leaders of congregations in search of hope in the midst of uncertain futures, and leaders seeking hope in the midst of seemingly intractable conflicts, the key to listening is what organizational consultant Michael Black calls “listening from tomorrow,” rather than listening from yesterday or even today. To listen from tomorrow is to engage in what Otto Scharmer calls “generative listening” in his book, Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges — listening in which one intentionally seeks to let go of the perceptions and attachments that inevitably form when what one is hearing is information that arouses one’s feelings. Such listening requires that we suspend our judgment about how things are or ought to be so that we can be more open to the potential that surrounds us and fills us.
And in the passage for today, Mary’s listening moves from listening–to to listening-from. Gabriel lists a number of tomorrows that are about to happen-tomorrows involving God, but tomorrows involving Mary herself, too. Mary listens to and begins to respond from her place of today–what is true today (“But how can this be?”), but then shifts to listening from tomorrow.
Is not Mary’s movement a movement from listening to/listening from today to listening from tomorrow? Robert Brawley’s translation above in the recently-published Fortress Commentary on the Bible helps us to hear Mary’s “Let it be with me according to your word about the tomorrow God is bringing into being.”
And Advent is our opportunity to remember tomorrow, the tomorrow that is the destiny of humanity, the destiny which is embodied in Jesus, as Roger Haight tell us: “Jesus is one of us– what occurred in Jesus is the destiny of human existence itself: et homo factus est.” (cited by James Carroll in Christ Actually: The Son of God for the Secular Age).
What seeds for our destiny are being planted by God within us and around us this Advent? How are we seeking such hope–listening as well as seeing from tomorrow?
If this post came up for you like it did on my phone, then today and tomorrow are links which can connect to your calendar to set an appointment, in this case, with God. Advent tells us that whether or not God is on our agenda, we are on God’s. Ready or not, the Christ of Christmas comes – so be ready!
Is not Mary’s movement a movement from listening to/listening from today to listening from tomorrow? Robert Brawley’s translation above in the recently-published Fortress Commentary on the Bible helps us to hear Mary’s “Let it be with me according to your word about the tomorrow God is bringing into being.”
And Advent is our opportunity to remember tomorrow, the tomorrow that is the destiny of humanity, the destiny which is embodied in Jesus, as Roger Haight tell us: “Jesus is one of us– what occurred in Jesus is the destiny of human existence itself: et homo factus est.” (cited by James Carroll in Christ Actually: The Son of God for the Secular Age).
What seeds for our destiny are being planted by God within us and around us this Advent? How are we seeking such hope–listening as well as seeing from tomorrow?
If this post came up for you like it did on my phone, then today and tomorrow are links which can connect to your calendar to set an appointment, in this case, with God. Advent tells us that whether or not God is on our agenda, we are on God’s. Ready or not, the Christ of Christmas comes – so be ready!
