A Listening Heart

A Sermon by Revd Katherine Hedderly
Readings: 1 Kings 2. 10-12; 3.3-14; Ephesians 5. 15-20; John 6. 51-58

“If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”

That ‘if’, is a powerful word.  It’s the word that has underscored the covenant that God has with Israel. A covenant based on a relationship of trust and fidelity.  But Israel has decided it wants to be ruled by kings. And so with David, and now with Solomon his son, to whom these words are addressed by God in a dream, they are experiencing what kingly leadership is like. The life of Israel now depends on that ‘if’ in Solomon’s relationship with God.  If he does what God invites him to do then all will be well for them. If not, then they will have to live with the consequences.

Today we hear of Solomon’s commitment to faithfulness. His humble affirmation that like his father David, he promises to live a life of loving obedience, honouring God and walking in his ways. When asked by God what he should give him, Solomon asks for the wisdom of an ‘understanding mind’ in order to govern well, which is more closely translated as ‘a listening heart’.

What better way for the newly appointed Solomon to start his reign it seems: In humility, in love and faithfulness, knowing his own weakness, open to God’s guiding and blessing, with a ‘listening heart’, listening to God and to the needs of his people. If only our world were full of leaders like this we might say.

But by the end of Solomon’s reign we know that all has not gone so well. The riches and honour that Solomon also receives from God, although not asked for, are his downfall. His kingship has become about accumulation, expansion, forced labour and overburdening taxation.  As Walter Bruggemann puts it: “Solomon’s accumulation of wealth and honour serves to distort the wisdom God has given him so that his heart no longer ‘listens’.” He becomes all the things that Samuel warns about, in 1 Samuel 8, when the people of God ask for a king to rule them.

The ideals of faithful kingship and covenant that are God’s gift are fractured by Solomon’s royal power and privilege. The carefully constructed codes of covenant fidelity that were created to protect the poor and vulnerable are broken by his wielding of political might and privilege, at their expense.

Whilst Solomon gets an international reputation for his knowledge and telling of proverbs, the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are said to be by him, he is less concerned about putting his wisdom into practice by ruling wisely.  The wisdom that Solomon fails to learn is attentiveness to those for whom God has special concern.

A wisdom that “…is not about successful management, or clever ruling, or a flourishing economy. But rather, attentiveness to those who are socially and economically vulnerable.” The wisdom that God longs for is the wisdom that is about equity and justice, caring for widows, orphans and immigrants and this wisdom comes before any exercise of power and authority. What might our world look like if these concerns were truly at the heart of those who lead us?

Kofi Annan, former secretary general of the United Nations sadly died yesterday. He worked to improve the lives of millions around the world and was a true peace maker. He said that the Millennium Development Goals, now being built on by the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, were what he was most proud of. They focused on that kind of compassion and global responsibility for the most needy in our world through targets for eradicating poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease.  This is world leadership putting the most vulnerable at its heart.

It is this kind of wisdom in leadership that he spoke about in an interview earlier this year.   “The world had become particularly ‘messy’ today”, he said, “I don’t see the strong leaders around who can cope with it….  Different people have different definitions of leadership. I believe that leadership is not about the individual. When you have macho leaders who believe they have to shine and that it all has to be about them, they are forgetting that what is required is the welfare of society and the people they serve.”  As a true diplomat he wasn’t naming any names but I think we kind of get the gist of what he was saying.

Like the people of Israel our lives depend on the ‘If’ of others.  Where they put their attention, who they listen to and care about, the paths they follow and walk in.  In this  country we long for government to notice and listen to the needs of the most vulnerable in our society, in social care, in healthcare, in education, in the care of the elderly and the very young, to listen to the voice of those living with disability, for a listening heart to be at the forefront of our future with Europe and the negotiations that are taking place.  For our institutions and those who run our economy not to be blinded by the desire for profit and gain and expansion, as Solomon was, at the expense of others, with the consequent undermining of good working practices and instability that zero hours contracts and lack of certainty in where and how we will work bring us, but to have a listening heart for what most brings life, flourishing for all, community, and peace.  God’s wisdom is available as a deep call to all of us, in whatever field of endeavour we are engaged, to walk in ways of justice, integrity, care and compassion, attentive to others needs.

We might wonder about that ‘If’ in our own lives. Our own “walking in God’s ways and keeping his commandments”, our uprightness, our own listening hearts and commitments.

You might have been spending some time over these often quieter weeks of summer being a bit more attentive to your walk with God. It’s a time to review how we might be freed from the desires for power and privilege, our own propensity to accumulate, to be driven, to treat others as less than who they are, and to let these things go and ask for the things that truly bring us peace and rule our lives so that we might be a blessing to those who our lives are linked with – family, loved ones, those for whom we might offer leadership, in paid or voluntary ways.

Solomon is human and flawed. He is great but he is also a disaster, he loves God but also fails God, he is full of wisdom and knowledge, but forgets to act wisely and care compassionately. His kingly rule is blessed by God, even though he fails.  We are also utterly human and fallible and stumble in our own response to God’s call to us to walk with him, but he too blesses us. We are also all capable of living out God’s wisdom in generous, healing, productive and fruitful ways that bring life to others.

An image that has stayed with me from my travels in Croatia, that spoke to me about what life walking with God is like, was a grape vine grown by the 80-year-old mother of a friend of ours in her rural garden. It looked beautiful but the thing that most surprised me was when I went to touch and hold a bunch of grapes hanging on the vine was its weight. It was so heavy.  It was an image for me of what being productive in God is all about. About staying connected to God’s ways and following him. Deeply connected to his word, to his life and beating heart.   If we do this then we will be fruitful, not with riches of the world, but with the riches of his life in us. This is the wisdom we most long for. How to live with God’s beating heart at our centre.

Jesus is the one who models for us the way to walk with God. Jesus is the answer to the ‘If’.   The one with the listening heart of God for the world. Who is always faithful. He is the way for us to be faithful, if we put our trust in him. He shows us how to stay connected to what really matters. His leadership is all about care for the vulnerable. They are the ones for whom his heart beats.

If we are truly connected to him, in flesh and blood, in bread and wine, in the walk of our day-to-day lives, we will be formed as a people who have a listening heart:. A listening heart for God; a listening heart for one another; a listening heart for the real needs of our world, above its noise and clamour.

Then we will abide with him forever.