Selective Hearing
(Learning to Listen before Doing)
Sermon at All Saints Kesgrave – Sunday 11 May 2025
Text: My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10v27-28)
God give you peace my Sisters and Brothers.
Ok, it’s time to ‘fess up, and I hope I am not the only male of the Species present who is guilty of this particular peccadillo, I am rubbish at hearing!
Well if I am honest I am not that bad at hearing (a visit to Specsavers – or is it SpecsaveEARS? – would fix any hearing problems) what I am really rubbish at is listening. Regardless of what I have heard I only listen to what I want to listen to, doing only what I want to do – which is not the same as what I am asked to do, and then blaming others when things don’t go my way.
As I look back on my life I have come to learn that this habit of mine has no natural cause but is simply an incredible compulsion to do whatever I want, whenever I want, and that without regard to the consequences.
Anyone else face the same challenges?
There is a great deal of difference between hearing and listening, being taught and learning.
Is this some sort of congenital selfishness?
A throwback to the time of our first parents in the garden?
Am I, are we, doomed to always want to reach for the bright and shiny fruit not because we are hungry but because we are greedy?
Do we persist in our sins simply because we enjoy the moment and to hell with the consequences?
I’ve never understood the saying ‘as miserable as sin’. Personally I find sin, for the most part, quite enjoyable, else why would we persist in it. It’s what happens after sin, after hearing but not listening, that brings the pain.
For me though, and for others as well, sin has not always been about doing what I like or getting my own way. Sometimes I sin because I am lonely. Sometimes I have even done sinful things that I have positively hated doing just so that I am not left out of the gang on the playground, the clique at the college, or the caucus group on the Synod. Loneliness is a powerful driver for sin. Which is why the most severe punishment we give to anyone who is in jail is to sentence them to solitary confinement…
Before I was blessed by the tender forgiving love of my ever-loving wife I seemed to have spent far too much of my time alone. Seven years at a Boarding School can do that to you. Moving to a foreign land and leaving behind the few friends you have can do that to you. Leaving your family in Cape Town and taking a long drive to Windhoek to live by yourself can do that to you.
As Virginia Baker, the character played by Catherine Zeta-Jones in the movie Entrapment says ‘I hate alone. Alone sucks!’
But then…
It was during a very long eucharist on a retreat – you can’t get God over and done with in under three hours in Africa – following an extended time of each of us confessing our sins to each other, I felt a warm presence standing behind me. Then, as if I was being gently wrapped in a loving embrace I heard Jesus whisper the words, ‘Andrew, you are mine!’ That night when I closed my eyes to try and sleep I could only see fireworks and discovered a deep unshakeable joy within my heart.
The rest as they say, is history. Not that I no longer sin, nor that I have learnt the difference between hearing and listening, nor even that I no longer have times when I feel lonely. But now I know the truth of the words, ‘Sometimes lonely, but never alone.’
‘Andrew, you are mine!’
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Yes, that’s it.
The antidote for loneliness is belonging.
The answer for sin is the love of our forgiving Saviour.
Each of us is known and called by the Good Shepherd.
No more wandering needed.
No more looking for love and acceptance in all the wrong places.
And there is more to come…
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
The task of the sheep is not to stay at home but to follow the Good Shepherd to green pastures and still water. Yes, as we follow we will pass through times of great darkness and deep valleys of despair but they will not, they cannot, harm us if we continue to listen for the Shepherd’s voice
The proof that we have learnt to listen instead of simply hearing and then forgetting, is to follow. Instead of following our own desires and the ‘noise’ of the world we prove that we are sheep of the flock of God, banish the loneliness that leads to separation, and find safe pasture when we turn and follow.
How do we do this?
Daily Listening: No matter how short or long a time it may be for we must have a plan to each day, as the old chorus says:
Read your Bible,
Pray every day, pray every day
and you’ll grow, grow grow
Many of our number already receive Daily Bible notes. If you don’t please have a word with Jennie Billinge or Chrissie Bryer to arrange this.
Many of our number follow the Church of England Daily Prayer App. If you don’t please have a chat with any member of the Ministry Team.
And also several of us simply slip into the church each day to light a candle and have a quiet word with the One who is always listening.
Please join them.
Frequent Meeting: Yes it is possible to be a Christian in isolation, we only need look at some of the great martyrs of the faith to see that, but it is not easy. I know that whenever I try to follow Jesus in my own strength listening to my own counsel I wander away and go off course. Perhaps I am just weak in this but I have learnt that I need to have sisters and brothers around me to encourage me in the dark times and to call me to humility when I get too big for my own sandals.
Regular Study: ‘The self-made man’, so they say, ‘has a fool for their master’. If we do not engage in the company of our sisters and brothers in the faith in studying the depths of the Word of God we will forever lead shallow lives and have little impact for the good of the Gospel and on the lives of those we love around us. This is why, and thank you to those who attended the Lent Course on the King’s Speech, the Ministry Team is planning to hold three regular six-week study courses on the Life of Faith during the year. We start the Wednesday after next looking at the Lord’s Prayer from the Pilgrim Course. Please join us.
In the coming weeks as we continue on our journey of learning to listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd, rejoice that we are not alone but part of the flock of Christ, and find the courage to leave the comfortable and familiar so that we may show to the whole world by our words and our deeds that we have indeed heard the Lord call our name.
This blog ‘Selective Hearing’ is copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2025. It may be reproduced free of charge on condition that the source is acknowledged.
oooOOOooo
Further conflict over Jesus’ claims
Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered round him, saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’
25 Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me,26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.’ (John 10v22-30)
Suffolk Vicar 