Election Season, Wk 2 (A Listening Heart)

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Hayley and Vince continue our series of messages for election season 2024, discussing how democracy needs healthy religion, visiting the Hebrew Bible's book of 1 Kings, and imagining how to live as a "hopeful skeptic" beyond the binary of cynic or optimist. (Art: woodcut by Kreg Yingst)

Woodcut by Kreg Yingst

SPEAKER NOTES

Election season wk 2: A Listening Heart

Hayley review three goals

First discussion message after your Sabbatical. So that’s fun! And today we are continuing on in our election season messages— helping one another navigate a season that tends to be pretty charged, sometimes confusing. (Great for SNL sketches). As we get started, I wanted to review the goals that we’ve set for our messages the next few weeks:

Practical:

• We hope you all feel encouraged to vote! That your vote, your engagement, and your presence truly matters. We have agency to help shape the unfolding future (which we’ll come back to) from the national, presidential election down to local elections.

Pastoral:

• That you would feel a sense of grounding, comfort, and hope in the midst of polarizing news headlines and endless doomscrolling

Teaching:

• That we all would continue to gain the language and tools to be able to communicate a mature vision of a democracy that is Christian AND does not look like authoritarianism or Christian nationalism.
  • We don’t have to distance ourselves from the Christian tradition but can remain rooted in tradition and Jesus’ teachings — there is a different picture out there and that’s what we will continue to talk through today

Vince introduce Democracy Needs Religion (Rosa)

• A really important thinker about modern life who I have cited countless times for us over the past several years. He might be second only to the Bible (someone should stat track our quotes and references, like advanced stats in sports — that would be hilarious.)
• Democracy needs Religion is amazing,
  • I would only add one word to the whole thing — the word “healthy” to the title — Democracy needs “healthy” religion.
• And it’s a great short introduction (just 75 pages) to a lot of Rosa's big ideas, which we've talked about here —
  • how modern life can feel alienating and exhausting, because there is a constant pressure to accelerate, innovate, and grow, for fear of falling behind,
  • But that also kind of excites us, which is what makes it hard to resist,
  • It comes from the unexamined ways our modern societies conceive of what is good: more, better, faster, bigger
  • and Rosa wants us to examine those ways — is that really a good life?
• About how this relates to democracy, he writes…

“This is the basic argument that I would like to present to you: We must allow ourselves to be invoked – spoken to – if democracy is to succeed. I’ve been saying this for many years as a sociologist... At the heart of modernity’s crisis lies a crisis of [call-ability] and this is just as evident in the crisis of faith as it is in the crisis of democracy… Religious traditions and institutions such as churches have at their disposal the narratives, cognitive reservoirs, rites, practices, and spaces in which a listening heart might be cultivated and experienced.” (Rosa)

• I attended a conference this last month where Rosa was the keynote speaker, and he elaborated on this saying:
  • we often talk about democracy being where “everyone has a voice” and that is a very important pursuit to continue to fight for —
  • BUT we’ve missed that that’s not enough; we also need to talk about democracy being where “everyone has ears” — has listening hearts!

Hayley comment / respond

• Yeah I think it’s so important to stress that listening well, having listening hearts, brings about transformation
  • Hearing one another and listening to the prophetic voices that are calling us forward leads us to change
• When we are quick to write off perspectives that are different from ours, we lose the opportunity to have what Rosa calls a “functional exchange of ideas”
• Stress on the exchange, the reciprocal relationship of having a listening heart— this can be shaped and informed by religion
  • I found he has a really helpful framing of looking at healthy religion as a resonant event and responsive relationship
    • This is a belief in a loving God that is listening and responding and alongside us, not just a passive and distant deity
    • Religion then isn’t modeling this defense of truths but a back and forth — speaking and listening — that can bring about greater hope and actual change

Vince introduce scripture (1 Kings)… H & V back and forth

• There’s a powerful Biblical narrative behind this idea of “a listening heart”. One I don’t think we’ve dug into for a long time at BLC.
• “Give me a listening heart” — this is King Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 3 —
• It’s beautiful! And wise! (In accordance with the reputation of Solomon’s early reign)
• Solomon is really the first governor of Ancient Israel, as king Saul and king David before him are more military leaders. But Solomon’s task is to maintain the stability of a nation - he builds a palace, and institutions, he has an administration.
  • 1 Kings, chapter 4 is basically a long list of administrators that most Bible readers skip, but that long list hits home: Solomon is a governor trying to bring stability to a society.
• Hartmut Rosa, our sociologist friend, says every society has a stabilization system — the assumed way to keep the wheels turning for a civilization.
• Solomon begins with call-ability (“give me a listening heart”) as his stabilization system.
• Being an attentive leader, a wise leader, a leader who listens for God, who listens to others — that’s what he begins his reign putting his trust in to keep Ancient Israelite society stable.
• BUT that’s not where Solomon’s story remains, unfortunately
• As circumstances get more and more comfortable for Solomon, he is gradually undone by the pull of an alternative stabilization system: escalation
  • more riches, bigger army, more shrines to more gods so no needy angry god feels shorted and smites us.
• One theologian interprets ==1 Kings== as a story of contending with the pull toward escalation as a stabilization system: economically, militarily, religiously —
  • THAT is what will keep us stable and save us from any trouble. Escalate, escalate, escalate.
  • 1 Kings 10 says Solomon had 12,000 horses and 1,400 chariots — which in modern terms means he had a military industrial complex
  • The text can feel almost sarcastic when it says his drinking vessels were made of pure gold, and silver was so abundant to him he considered it worthless
• We’d be lying if we say there’s not a draw to “more, better, bigger” though right?
• Solomon’s reign, and later the reigns of King Omri and King Ahab, are the pinnacle of presitge for Ancient Israel –
• But 1 Kings’ authors are extremely critical of this period.
  • Ahab is contrasted with the prophet Elijah, who you may have heard of.
  • He persistently confronts Ahab’s escalation and injustice,
  • the authors tell Elijah’s famous “still small voice” cave experience to further contrast “escalation” with “a listening heart”
• The more you are driven by escalation, the less call-able you become
  • And that leads to bad Kings, to bad governance, to the forgetting of the poor, to the forgetting of God, to conscripted slave labor (even after that’s what the Ancient Israelites were freed from in the Exodus!)

So what does escalation as a stabilization system look like for us, in our current cultural context?

• We experience our own pull, just with different idols promising stability.
  • not horses, chariots, palaces, and shrines to as many gods as possible,
  • BUT the market drives to constantly grow, accelerate, and innovate.
• Those are what we trust in to keep us stable.
  • If a nation’s economy grew 3% percent last year, it has to grow another 3% this year.
  • If a company had X number of dollars in profit last year, they have to innovate so they can make more than that with the same amount of work this year.
  • If an individual took a nice vacation last year, they have to take an amazing vacation this year.
  • Nations feel this, institutions feel this, and individuals feel this.
  • Escalation.
• And we have a love hate relationship with it.
  • Sometimes we’re aware of how exploitative this is,
  • but often it feels exciting, attractive, good.
• And so Escalatory stabilization systems pull us into their vortex, and it becomes harder and harder to be invoked, to stay call-able —
• We must CONTINUE to pray for a listening heart, again and again, returning to humility, NOT just thinking we can start with that intention and it will stay with us.
• Yes, that it’s an ongoing request, returning to humility — this is so important
• And I think it’s really interesting that in the passage (1 Kings 3) when Solomon is asking for a listening heart, he is humble in acknowledging his starting point
  • He refers to himself as a servant and admits “I don’t know how to carry out my duties”
  • Basically, I don’t know what I’m doing here, so give me a listening, discerning heart
• Far too often I think there’s pressure to have “expert” as our starting point
  • Acceleration and accumulation so rampant that there isn’t even room to have a beginning or be in a position of humility
  • Individual level: already know fully what you’re doing before you even begin. Sheer access to information that we have, there’s this expectation of expert in all areas of life
  • When we look to political leaders and those with the biggest platforms and institutional power - we probably don’t want them saying “I don’t know how to carry out my duties”
    • That wouldn’t inspire our vote of confidence
    • But I do think that moving away from humility keeps leaders from evolving, from inviting more voices into decision making, from being influenced by those who are demanding justice
  • We don’t want Solomon to stay where he begins but we also don’t want him to abandon the posture of his starting place
    • Accumulate, accelerate — not in the place of ever being in need. In need of others, in need of changing course
    • It doesn’t leave space for admitting we were wrong (on an individual level and for those we see campaigning for positions of power) and repairing and changing course
      • [I’d find it refreshing if more leaders (political, religious) admitted I didn’t know X or I used to believe this but over time I’ve learned new things and witnessed different perspectives that have changed me]
    • [Instead, there’s typically]Upward trajectory that pushes ahead at all costs
• A broken democracy is one of the symptoms of this in our time — more and more people have a voice, which is great! BUT no one has ears. We are not invocable, not call-able; Our stances usually default to aggressive, cynical, closed off, demonizing.
• But we don’t often tie this to escalation. We point to each other as the problems.
• As I said last week, we don’t want to make a false equivalence between the political left and right in our country.
  • I think it is completely fair to say the Conservative Right, particularly in its entertaining of authoritarianism, has contributed more to our national inability to be called or invoked right now.
  • BUT neither do we want to suggest that the moral failure of one side implies the moral righteousness of the other side. We of the Progressive Left have absolutely contributed to our culture’s inability to be called or invoked.
  • The broader pull of “more, better, faster, bigger” has us all.
• I think Rosa is right that Healthy religion — as symbolized by early Solomon’s prayer and by Elijah’s contrast to Ahab — can foster the listening hearts we need!
• What if this is what Christians were known for?
• It’s possible! But we have to resist the excitement of the pull of escalation, again and again, praying for a listening heart continually, not just trusting our good intentions.

Transition-

• Gets back to the healthy model of religion as resonant event and responsive relationship that Rosa stresses
  • Religion should model call-ability, willingness to listen and be changed, instead of being used as another tool in bulldozing ahead at the cost of lives and rights and justice
• Religion as a model of openness not as an example of being closed off and aggressive

Hayley introduce “hopeful skeptic” (Dr. Zaki) (Ja-meel Zaw-ki)

• I think the distance between having listening-hearts (being open and willing to be transformed by other voices) and the actual political reality we have can cause us to be pretty cynical
• When we’re dissatisfied by the cultural climate of accelerate, accumulate, bulldoze ahead, the flip side doesn’t have to be that we fall into cynicism and despair
• I recently listened to a podcast on hope and skepticism that I think is helpful for our conversation today
• Episode of Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown they interviewed Dr. Jamil Zaki (Stanford psychology professor and author of Hope for Cynics)
• He presents cynicism as theory that in general, humanity is bad- selfish, greedy
  • At our core: are people cruel or kind? (Cynicism says cruel)
  • And if that’s your outlook, why would you trust anyone?
  • It’s a very closed off mindset
• Zaki talks about how there is this prevailing notion that cynics are just smarter, the mindset of “if you knew what I knew, you’d be cynical too”
  • But its a really taxing mindset to have — not just mentally (leading to more anxiety and depression) but actually physically too (heart disease, chronic stress)

Yeah this connects to Rosa’s suggestion that trying to stabilize with escalation makes us aggressive.

In contrast, skepticism, Zaki says, is a more helpful position

• Rather than thinking as a lawyer, you think as a scientist
  • I have every right to question the unjust systems and broken democracy and unhealthy religion around me
  • I’m going to investigate more and be open to evidence
  • And when I question these stabilization systems, I’m also not going to transfer my dissatisfaction to all of humanity, to the people around me
• If cynicism is a closed off mindset, skepticism is open minded
• And he introduces hope to skepticism: That hopeful skepticism is the most helpful landing place
  • Cynics would say: things are bad and will be bad (predict the future)
  • Optimists would say: everything is going to turn out well
  • Hope tells us that things could turn out well; not that they WILL but that they COULD
• At first glance, it may seem like optimism is the more trusting and faithful position. A full confidence that things are going to turn out well.
• But if we take on a position of hope — things could turn out well, that means the future is uncertain. And with an uncertain future, our actions matter. We help shape the future- we have agency
• Our posture of a listening heart makes a difference! Our interruptions to acceleration make a difference! Our vote makes a difference!

Yeah we often talk here about the open and relational image of God — where life is a not pre-determined one way street from a controlling God, but life is a partnership, a two way street, with a God who can’t control, because our freedom to choose matters, but we’re never left alone in our choices because God is the most influential force in all of life, infusing every moment with guidance and a call toward love, goodness, beauty, justice.

Like optimism, the controlling, deterministic picture of God can seem more comforting to believe in, until we face real unexplainable pain, like say natural disasters named Helene and Milton, and then a controlling God seems like a monster, and optimism seems stupid.

The open and relational God is a better image of God — it breeds hope that things could turn out well, as the world cooperates with God’s calls, BUT doesn’t break down like optimism when pain or tragedy strike.

• A listening heart — being a hopeful skeptic — requires this partnership and connection. It recognizes our reliance on a loving God and other people.
  • Not just the people who believe exactly what we believe and think exactly the way we think
• Having a listening heart keeps us from drawing the worst conclusions about the people around us and the realities we are presented with
• We listen and investigate (skepticism) AND we remain hopeful (we have agency to make a difference!)
• Accelerating and accumulating OR being in despair about acceleration and accumulation are not the only 2 landing places!
• And if we think back to Solomon and look at the course of humble beginning, full reliance on a loving God (that posture of listening) to military industrial complex and aggressive acceleration
  • We need to refuse to let that trajectory be inevitable
  • We need to stay hopeful and embrace the real weight of our agency

Ending

Our art for this week on instagram is a woodcutting of the 6th century contemplative monk St Benedict — whose elaboration on early Solomon’s prayer was “listen… and incline the ear of your heart”

We often teach contemplative prayer practices here at BLC, which involve quiet and listening more so than words and petitioning.

One such prayer is what we did last week and what Hayley will lead us in again in a moment, lovingkindness meditation, but there are many ways to practice contemplative prayer.

My simple morning practice over coffee, which I share about all the time here is this — deep breaths, not striving or trying to prove myself before God, just listening for God to guide me toward love for the day — it’s a de-escalation practice. It won’t get you ahead; it might even feel risky, like you’ll fall behind if you make it a priority everyday. You might. But maybe escalation is not the good life. Maybe a listening heart is. And maybe that’s the way out of our crisis of democracy.

Hayley lead Lovingkindness meditation

Practice we return to

Get comfortable, lower your shoulders, close your eyes if comfortable doing so

Self:

• A deep need you want to experience, something you are longing for (hope, forgiveness, provision, comfort)
• Pray over yourself
  • May I know I am loved
  • May I know there is hope
  • May I know confidently that I am not am not alone

Someone you love:

• Bring to mind someone in your life that it is so easy to love. And if we’re thinking about belief and politics, this would be someone you naturally align with. Seem to be on the same page with, easy to connect
• Extend that longing over them. I pray (hope, forgiveness, provision) for that person.
• Pray over this person
  • May you know you are loved
  • May you know there is hope
  • May you know, confidently, you are not alone

Someone you disagree with:

• Bring to mind someone you have a bit more complicated of a relationship with. Someone you typically disagree with. Maybe you have profound differences with
• Extend your longing over them— we pray hope, forgiveness, provision, comfort for this person
• Pray
  • May you know you are loved
  • May you know there is hope
  • May you know, confidently, you are not alone

Enemy:

• Someone you regard as complete opposite — it feels like they couldn’t be farther from what you believe to be true politically
• Extend your longing over them too - Praying hope, forgiveness, comfort for this person
• Pray
  • May you know you are loved
  • May you know there is hope
  • May you know, confidently, you are not alone

God we acknowledge your presence as we navigate our relationships and the greater political climate that is our current reality. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Help us to have listening hearts. To not jump to conclusions or bulldoze ahead but to slow down and listen. Keep us from despair and help us to discern. May we remain hopeful as we refuse to be swept up into acceleration, seeking comfort in community and in a peace beyond understanding. Would we claim our agency, knowing that our presence matters, as we participate in the unfolding future ahead.

Amen