Listening just means that you’re actually engaging with the person, their concerns and their issues that they’re raising

 

And if you’re a Christian here this morning, when we’re in that flooded state we completely forget that this is a person or a community for whom Jesus died, each one made in God’s image; and we can forget that Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor, and even to love our enemy, which means listening to them even if it’s hard for us to hear And we can forget that the cross and Jesus’s empty tomb is, quite frankly, the ONLY real hope we have in our world to break through these barriers that have disrupted human community for all time

 

Because it’s the only thing strong enough to break through all these barriers to offer healing, forgiveness to call ALL people to repentance for the ways that we have sinned against one another, whether it is intentional or unintentional THIS is the spiritual power that goes to the root of the problem!

 

The Scriptures declare that Jesus has already made us one in himself. These barriers that are between us have already been conquered by the power of Jesus

 

That’s the big promise of the Scriptures AND at the same time on an individual level, the cross also frees us to hear criticism

and critique without it destroying us!