It
has been the healthiest statement I have heard in a long time and perhaps the
truest. It was part of a presentation
on the paradoxes of leadership by Dr. Sue Horvath. “The complainers are
the biggest supporters of an organization.” Right!… Hmm… Not
sure I see that. But, as she continued the presentation, she said: “Can
you hear every complaint as a request for service?” And like a light bulb
going off, so many difficult conversations I have had with people made sense.
I found myself ‘re-hearing’ the conversations, not as attacks against
me as a person or priest or Newman Chaplain, but in a way that allowed me to
know a deeper truth. Here are people of great passion trying to say to me what
matters most to them. And though it is seldom couched in a language that is easy
to hear – because there is usually a lot of anger or frustration or hurt
that is also being expressed – the deepest down truth was that they were
asking for something. And they were caring about something. Because they cared
deeply, they were asking. What it took from me was a different set of ears to
hear not the hurt or frustration or anger, but the love they had for (fill in
the blank – their child, their school, their Newman Center, their parish).
Instead of viewing them as annoyances, suddenly they became the biggest supporters
who had something to ask of me.
It is so hard to stay in those conversations long enough to hear the truth. It’s
much easier to cut them off or shut them out or ignore them because we don’t
like the “HOW” they are delivering the message. How do you stay in
there long enough to hear the truth? How do you stay humble enough to be open
to the truth no matter how it is presented? That, I believe, is a one of the
life long demands of discipleship.
The readings speak of this tension from a slightly different perspective. Eldad
and Medad missed the mandatory Prophesy 101 class held at the gathering tent.
Therefore, they couldn’t be true prophets, they couldn’t be speaking
the truth – because they weren’t operating through the proper channels.
The healer in the gospel was not a card-carrying disciple, so he obviously had
to be stopped – he couldn’t be part of the truth of Jesus’ reign,
because he hadn’t sat in on the lectures. He didn’t get his degree
from UMSL’s school of discipleship. Both Joshua and John were pretty sure
that truth came in neatly packaged, predictable ways. But just as I had to learn
the secret of complainers, so Jesus and Moses invited their followers to know
the great freedom of God: truth would not be limited to predictable patterns
and easy to hear sound bites. God would be God and truth would be truth, no matter
how it was packaged.
So how do you teach yourself to listen to the truth, no matter how it is packaged,
no matter where it come from? How do we live with a disciples openness to God’s
action in our lives? Let me suggest three.
1) It is said that the churches of the land are packed with bald people who chose
to let the truth meant for them skim off their heads to hit the people behind
them for whom it was obviously intended. Step one is a willingness to approach
every situation with a great openness. Ask for the grace at each moment to be
open to what God has to teach you…
2) Be open to the unexpected moment – when God uses the unpredictable to
get his message across. Like when I was walking at camp with my six year old
niece and she crossed to the other side of me, because she saw a bee. Trying
to comfort her, I said, “Bees usually don’t sting unless you bother
them.” “Yeah Uncle Bill. When they feel threatened they try to protect
themselves.” WOOF…
3) Make the effort to stay in the uncomfortable – whether it is a conversation,
a moment of insight or one of those ‘complainers’. It is so difficult
to stay with hurt or grief or loss or pain. We tend to rush through those ‘negative
experiences’ – and in so doing, miss so much of the deepest truth
God wants for us to know.
In a few moments, we will receive the gift of Jesus who is the Way and the
TRUTH and the Life. Will we let him be our truth this week? Will we stay humble
before the truth, no matter what, no matter when, no matter how it is presented
to us?