What If We Have More To Learn?

There is no shortage of people willing to tell us what is wrong.

Turn on the television. Scroll through social media. Listen to conversations about politics, religion, the Church, or almost any issue that divides us. We are surrounded by voices telling us what other people need to understand, what other people need to change, and what other people need to do.

Sometimes those voices even claim to speak for God.

This Sunday, the prophet Ezekiel reminds us that speaking can be part of faithfulness. God appoints Ezekiel as a watchman, someone responsible for sounding the warning when danger approaches. Ezekiel cannot simply see what is happening and remain silent. There are times when injustice, cruelty, exclusion, or harm must be named. Silence is not always faithful.

But there is a danger when we begin assuming that everything we believe, everything we want to say, or everything we think someone else needs to hear comes directly from God.

That is where the words of Psalm 119 become so important.

“Teach me.”

“Give me understanding.”

“Lead me.”

The psalmist does not begin by asking God to straighten everyone else out. The prayer begins with the recognition that the person praying still has something to learn.

Maybe that is one of the more difficult spiritual practices for us right now.

Our society is deeply divided, and we are often encouraged to approach those divisions with certainty. We identify who is wrong before we have listened to them. We prepare our response while another person is still speaking. We become very good at recognizing what everyone else needs to change while remaining remarkably comfortable with ourselves.

But discipleship is a journey, and journeys have a way of changing us.

We may have a destination in mind. We may even be certain that we know where we are going. But sometimes what happens along the way matters more than reaching the destination we originally imagined. 

The psalmist seems to understand this. “Teach me” is the prayer of someone who has not finished learning. “Give me understanding” admits that there may be more to understand. “Lead me” is the prayer of someone willing to follow, even when the path does not go exactly where they expected.

Listening is more than being polite. Listening can become one of the ways God transforms us along the journey.

That does not mean accepting everything someone says as true. It certainly does not mean remaining in conversations or relationships that are abusive or harmful There are voices claiming to speak for God that promote exclusion, fear, shame, and toxic theology. Healthy boundaries are a part of faithful discipleship.

Our Episcopal tradition gives us helpful companions for the journey in scripture, tradition, and reason. We listen to scripture within the larger story of God’s love and grace. We learn from the wisdom handed down through generations of the Church, while recognizing that the Church has sometimes been wrong. We use the reason God has given us, shaped by what we have learned and experienced. Through it all, we keep seeking God’s guidance. 

We speak when speaking is necessary.

We listen because we know we have more to learn.

And we test what we hear because claiming to speak for God is a responsibility we should never take lightly.

Perhaps we do not need to be quite so certain that we have already arrived.

Instead, we can keep traveling. Keep learning. Keep listening.

Teach me, O God.

Give me understanding.

Lead me.

And along the way, may God continue forming us into more loving, faithful, and compassionate disciples of Jesus.

Kevin+