How Do We Hear? The Art of Listening

How Do We Hear? The Art of Listening led by Rev. Telos Whitfield.  We will explore the practice of deep listening and reflect on the circumstances where people were  called to listen and respond in unexpected ways, requiring their courage, resilience and openness.  Spiritual leaders of all major religious traditions were called to listen. What if we were to receive  such a call? 

“How Do We Hear? The Art of Listening”

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Order of Service
Sunday, October 25, 2020

ASC Board Greeting/Welcome and Announcements

Prelude     Variations XIV and XV on a Corelli theme               Sergei Rachmaninoff

Chalice Lighting  
With the kindling of our flame, we open our ears and hearts to all we can hear. From the whisper of wind to the rustling of leaves, the call of birds and the words of our friends and dear ones. May true listening be our practice and guide.

Opening Words

Hymn # 348 Guide My Feet      trad. spiritual
                     sung by Bob Wyckoff     

Story for All Ages  Crow Boy by Tara Nashima

Anthem       Crossing the Bar
poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, music by Charles H.H. Parry
All Souls Church Choir, conducted by Tom Baehr

Responsive Reading
            Listening Is an Act of the Heart by Leslie Takahashi

One: Listening is not an act of the ear, listening is an act of the heart.

Many: In these times when so much speaks: outrage, anger, disillusionment.

One: Rage is a constant cry. Derision has found his voice. The despair of the fair and faithful speaks fast and often. The whisper of despair grows into a keening lament.

Many: Open our hearts to the real fears of those who have known hate because they are our guides to its insidious expansiveness.

One: Open our memories to those ancestors of our spirits who were love-seekers, peace-makers, truth-guiders, system-questioners.
And listen, because—

Many: Listening is an act of our hearts.

One: Do not ignore the soul pain of the ones who move through the hardest nights, who face the denial of their rights and the desecration of their humanity. Do not forget those too dispossessed of a language of mastery and the countless forms of life who do not count humanity as their family and yet who are within our larger circle of interdependence.

Many: Open our hearts to the true threats that many feel.

One: Open our minds to the anguish of those who need accompaniment.

Many: Open our memories to those who came before us and taught us how to create new forms of love out of the old worn patterns.

One: And listen, because—

Many: Listening is an act of our hearts.
Listening is an act of our hearts.

Sermon: The Art of Listening
 
Hymn #112  “Do You Hear”
Emily Thorn (words); William Caldwell’s Union Harmony
                             Catie Berg, soprano

Offering shared with The Commons

Offertory  “Autumn” from The Seasons    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
              arranged for quintet by Takemits

Blessing the Candles of Joy and Concern

Unison Affirmation

Hymn #396      “I Know This Rose Will Open”
A Round by Mary Grigolia, words & music
sung by Marie Gorst and Steve Squires

Extinguishing the Chalice

We extinguish this flame but not the light of truth,

The warmth of community, or the fire of commitment.

These we carry in our hearts until we are together again.

   

Closing Words

Closing Circle Song
 “Carry the flame of peace and love until we meet again.”
                                     (sung 2 times)

Benediction

Conversation and Coffee Hour