Specifically I wondered if we could emulate his posture of listening that we read about in Luke 2. . . Think about the story briefly with me. In Luke 2, Jesus sat with the very people who would later lead the charge to crucify him. For 5 days (trust me, do the math, he was with them for 5 days) Jesus adopted a non-defensive posture and listened to the very people who would attack, abuse, and ridicule him.
Makes me wonder. . . In our current culture today, could we do this for 5 minutes?
As proof that we like to go back to the 'way things have always been' after Christmas and stop listening to each other, I offered up the jaded, judgy, critical definition that I heard in seminary about this past Sunday. I think that was where I first heard the term for the Sunday that we just experienced as the church. There among future leaders of the church I heard the term: Low Sunday lifted up. I means that no one comes to church this past week. It is the Sunday with the lowest attendance traditionally.
Families are out of town. They are getting ready for the New Year. Perhaps they are traveling.
But I wonder: shouldn't we do better than judging lack of church attendance by saying it's 'Low Sunday?' It feels like the very posture that Jesus came to help us get back. Should we not dwell with each other and listen more to God and more to each other and put the judgment and criticism away? There is enough of that living outside of the Body of Christ, why does it have to grow in the church as well?
Maybe the lesson from Jesus in the Temple is to listen to each other. To dwell. To abide with people who we may not always agree with, and above all, to resist the temptation fall back into confrontational positions and postures that would help us to shake our heads when we do not see churches full on the Sunday after Christmas.
I wonder. . . could we listen to what God is saying this week?
