Good words from Buechner, on the preaching and hearing of God's Word.
"When a minister reads out of the Bible, I am sure that at least nine times out of ten the people who happen to be listening at all hear not what is really being read but only what they expect to hear... Only that is too bad because if you really listen -- maybe you have to forget that it is the Bible being read and a minister who is reading it -- there is no telling what you might hear."
-Frederick Buechner,
Secrets in the Dark: "The Magnificent Defeat," p. 2
Do those words resonate with you? They do with me. For those of us that spend time on either side of the pulpit, Buechner offers a good reminder. Who knows how God will speak when God's word is read and preached?!
May we listen with expectation...even today...trusting that God will speak.
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