Contemplative Listening

Scripture resounds with God’s call to hear—Shema—and the discipline and gift of listening is foundational to the Christian life of loving God and neighbour. Listening creates a sanctuary within which we may receive God’s Word and welcome the neighbour. By listening we are shaped as Christ’s disciples. Yet how do we orient toward God’s voice and toward another person in a culture that so loudly drives, seduces, engages, divides, and distracts us? How do we quiet external and internal noise in order to hear? Contemplative spiritual disciplines and practical listening skills can help us listen to God, the hearts of others, and even to our own souls. This course will offer some basic theory and the prayerful practices of contemplative listening which lie at the core of the ministry of spiritual direction and relationships of spiritual friendship.