As preachers, at times it can be difficult to feel like we are listening to God.
One of my favorite singer/songwriters is Nanci Griffith, who died unexpectedly in 2021. She sang with a bell-like tone and a wry Texas drawl while her fingers danced over the strings of her guitar with joy and longing. The songs she wrote were drawn deeply from a life of wonder and worry, tragedy and hope.
Yet Griffith’s greatest critical success came from a 1993 album entitled Other Voices | Other Rooms, a collection of songs written by others who had influenced her own songwriting and style.
As Working Preachers, we all have our own methods of sermon preparation, our embedded routines and favorite trusted sources. Yet there are times when schedules become overly crowded, when the unpredictability of church life interrupts our weekly rhythm and routines, or when the weariness of carrying the load week after week after week drains both energy and imagination. It can be wearying. It can be stifling. It can be isolating to the point that the only voice we hear is our own.
Listening to God through practices with others
However, preaching is never a solo endeavor. At its most basic, it is grounded in a holy conversation between the voice of God, the preacher, and the people to whom we are called to proclaim the Good News. We have been trained to read and study and mine the depths of scripture, consult tradition, engage theologically. We utilize Bible studies and discussion groups, consult commentaries, listen to and view podcasts, even engage in discernment practices such as lectio divina or Dwelling in the Word as part of our sermon prep.
What if we approached everything we do with the intentionality and awareness we put into sermon preparation? What if we adopted ongoing practices of listening deeply to God, with and through others, as a central part of our regular spiritual life? How might broader practices of listening discernment enhance our preaching preparation?
A posture of communal listening
For more than a decade, The Lydian Way1, a small faith-centered nonprofit in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been engaged in a practice we refer to as the Lydian Discernment Huddle. It is loosely based on a “discipleship huddle” practice developed by Mike Breen2 and the 3DM Network3 in the 1990s. Though 3DM originally intended their practice as a way to disciple and build a network of small interconnected missional communities, our Lydian experience was different. We discovered that the practice helped us discern how God was gifting us, where God was active in and around us, and where God was calling us into God’s preferred and emerging future.
The more we engaged in this weekly discernment practice, the more aware we each became of God’s activity and call in our community and daily lives, our faith and vocational lives. It has become the guiding spiritual practice of the Lydian community.
The process is simple. We meet weekly for one hour, beginning with a simple relaxation technique followed by a time of Dwelling in the Word.4 Over the years, we have discovered that dwelling focuses our attention on listening deeply with ears, heart, and mind, both to scripture and to each other. What’s more, this deep listening attunes us to step into the second movement of the Lydian Huddle practice: the Kairos Circle.
The Kairos Circle practice
The practice is based on a simple premise: the Holy Spirit has a sneaky habit of breaking into our day-to-day lives and inviting us to consider God’s alternative future. Literally, God’s time (kairos) breaks into our time (chronos). The Kairos Circle is a simple practice to help us discern and affirm, through the bonds of a trusting community, what the Spirit may be calling us to do or be.
The format is simple:
- Someone describes a kairos5 to the group, describing in detail the situation and what they think God might be asking them to consider. This could be an issue at work, or in their spiritual life, or home life—wherever and whenever one senses that they are listening to God’s invitation.
- The other members listen deeply, taking note of questions, thoughts, and images which may arise.
- After a period of silence, the listeners are given time to ask the one bringing kairos clarifying questions—not observations, not solutions, just questions.
- We observe another period of silence, and then each listener offers a “gift”—a scripture verse or story, a feeling, a word of insight or hope which arises during their own deep listening.
- After being given another period of silence to reflect, the one bringing kairos is asked two simple questions:
- What does all this say about your identity in Christ? and
- What might the Holy Spirit be asking you to do?
In our experience with this Lydian Huddle practice, the one who brings kairos almost always receives clarity and direction, and each of the other participants are given a gift of insight as well.
Perhaps most importantly, those who have engaged in this communal practice over the years are more attuned to “hearing” and “discerning” the voice of God in our everyday lives. We feel positioned to respond more quickly and trustingly to the voice of God in others, no matter where those voices may be heard.
For those of us who regularly preach, it has also become a source of insight and inspiration which is carried into our weekly sermon preparation. We are more able to hear those other voices from other rooms through which God proclaims love and restoration, reconciliation, and hope.6
Notes
http://www.thelydianway.org (or this more specific link: https://www.thelydianway.org/about-us/)
- https://www.3dmpublishing.com
- https://www.3dmovements.com
- In our Lydian practice, we return to the same scripture text month after month (as of this writing, our groups have been dwelling in Genesis 32 for over a year and a half). For more information, see Pat Taylor Ellison and Patrick Keifert, Dwelling in the Word (St. Paul: Church Innovations Institute, 2011).
- Lydians use the term kairos to refer to the particular action of God which breaks into our everyday existence.
- For more information about the Lydian Discernment Huddle practice, visit www.thelydianway.org.