00:00:00 Welcome to episode 632 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Julie Tafolla. I challenge you to invest in yourself and others develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, talent and treasures, to live out your calling. Having the ability to communicate and build relationships is vital. And one inspirational way to develop that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend,
00:00:32 Scott Mader, And the truth is more often than not. The problem is that we're all so busy speaking that no one is actually listening. We are afraid that by listening, we're giving approval to somebody that perhaps we don't agree with. We're saying we agree with you, but the truth is listening to someone, acknowledging someone welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast.
00:01:13 If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. In today's spiritual foundation episode about impacting the world.
00:01:43 I talk with you about the ministry of presence, why comfort isn't required are really even recommended and how we can do this by listening. And by speaking both, let's talk about the ministry of presence. You may have heard this term before you may not have, but I bet you've experienced it at one time or another. You know, when you have a bad day,
00:02:10 when things are going wrong, when maybe there's some grief in your life because of something that's happened when you've had a, a rough experience of some sort, if you have a friend or a family member or someone else who just shows up and is there for you, they don't necessarily save very much. They don't necessarily do very much, but they're present.
00:02:35 They're there. They're listening. They're acknowledging your feelings, your grief with their mere presence. And I actually think about it that way. You know, we talk about having your mere presence as if it's a little thing, but the truth is having someone show up and acknowledge your grief is a powerful, powerful experience. It's something that can show up in a big way or a small way.
00:03:06 You know, right now I'm, I'm reminded as I see people protesting, as I see the injustices in the world, as I see people reacting both pro and con to various positions by various people. I remember remember how it is sometimes to just to just show up and listen, you know, job in the Bible, the, the, the passages about Joe,
00:03:32 what he he's, he's held up by God. And there's all of these bad experiences. His friends show up. Now, granted his friends later go on to say some pretty stupid things. But at the beginning they show a great deal of wisdom. They see him, they're downtrodden in the Ash, heap, matted, beard, and open sores. And they dirty themselves and they go and they set with him.
00:03:58 They don't worry about the stairs. They don't worry about the bad feelings. They don't worry about what other people think. They just show up and they cry with him. They show respect for his grief. They don't give him platitudes. They don't tell him it'll all get better. They don't tell them, you'll get over it. Time heals all wounds.
00:04:19 They don't quote scripture to him. Instead they show up and they sit and they listen. You know, we often think that if we just quote the Bible to people they'll feel better, but if you're hurting that may or may not actually make you feel any better. Usually if someone's a Christian, they already know those verses. They've already heard them and thought of them themselves.
00:04:45 But right now they need the comfort of presence. They need you to be there and be quiet and listen and hear their experience. I'm reminded as I see people talk about black lives matters and all life matters and blue life matters. And all of the other things going on that truly, if all of us are shouting at the top of our lungs and no one is listening,
00:05:08 we aren't actually communicating. I've been spending a lot of time listening to my black brothers and my black sisters and hearing their experiences. And I will tell you their experiences are not mine, and I'm not always comfortable with hearing the experiences that they've had. And in fact, I would argue that comfort isn't required for the ministry of presence. And in fact,
00:05:34 it's probably not even recommended that all you're ever doing is seeking out to be present when you're already comfortable. You're probably not really serving with the ministry of presence. We are called as Christians to go out of our way. And sometimes that involves listening to a group that perhaps you don't agree with. Sometimes it means being present with someone who you don't necessarily really love,
00:05:58 or even respect, or maybe even have a feeling for maybe you, you actually think they got a little bit of what they deserve, but it doesn't matter. You're still called to be there and to shut up and listen to their experience, to hear with your heart, as well as your ears you're asked to be made uncomfortable. You're asked to step forward.
00:06:24 Christ was not comfortable on the cross. And he has told us to pick up our cross and follow him. And that means that we are not called to comfort. We often will end up with an experience that calls us to do something that we aren't comfortable doing. Be somewhere where they're not comfortable being. I'm reminded of people that serve into communities. That in some ways I look at them and I'm amazed that they can do it because it would scare me.
00:06:56 And yet I'm also called to go out and seek those places that I'm not comfortable to listen to the people that I'm not comfortable listening to on both sides, by the way. So whether you're right or left, I'm still called to listen to you. Not necessarily to agree with you, but to hear you at the very least. And the truth is more often than not.
00:07:19 The problem is that we're all so busy speaking, that no one is actually listening. We are afraid that by listening, we're giving approval to somebody that perhaps we don't agree with. We're saying, we agree with you, but the truth is listening to someone, acknowledging someone and hearing their message is not the same as agreeing with them. It is possible to do both.
00:07:45 And yet there are times that it becomes overwhelming. You hear the drum beat of something that you truly don't agree with, and it can become overwhelming. And I understand that, but you're still called to seek out and hear people's positions on both sides. You know, it's possible to feel bad whenever there's a riot and be upset about the rioters to be upset with people that feel that black lives don't matter,
00:08:17 that are seeking out and harming people just based on the race and the color of their skin, because truly inherently, we all have a tendency to fear the other it's embedded in born in us. It's part of the sin that we all suffer from. And yet, and yet we're called as Christians to overcome that. And I would argue that one of the chief tools we have to overcome that is the ministry of presence it's actually showing up and listening to each other and listening at least twice before you ever speak to not speak out ignorance,
00:08:55 but to speak Out of true love means first to hear the people that are around us. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode,
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