Signs of the Times

with contributions from Helen M. Frazier

Excerpt from an article in the Bible Society Record New York, New York

Again and again experience proves the dynamic power of the Word of God. One example was a convinced atheist who studied the New Testament to write a treatise against Christianity. During this study he experienced a complete change of heart and is now a minister of the Word of God.

Helen M. Frazier in The Universalist Leader Boston, Massachusetts

My point of view was changed recently by reading the little book Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer....

Under the section entitled Ministry of Listening are these words: "Christians, especially ministers, so often think they must always contribute something when they are in the company of others, that this is the one service they have to render. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking....

"But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God, too.... One who cannot listen long and patiently will presently be talking beside the point and be never really speaking to others, albeit he be not conscious of it.

"Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies....

"There is a kind of listening with half an ear that presumes already to know what the other person has to say. It is an impatient, inattentive listening that despises the brother and is only waiting for a chance to speak and thus get rid of the other person. This is no fulfillment of our obligation."

Never again can I underrate the service of mere listening.

From the "Let's Consider" column in The Salvation Army's War Cry Chicago, Illinois

Because God is "kind unto the unthankful and to the evil," we are to emulate Him and love our enemies and do them kindness. Many a stubborn, rebellious heart has been softened by the kindness of a sympathetic word or an unexpected favor. The practice of Christian loving-kindness will do more to reach the indifferent and even the hostile than all the profession that is only profession.

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June 13, 1959

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