Hard of Hearing Hearts
Dear Mosaic Boston Family,
We are losing our ability to listen, for three primary reasons. First, we live in a world of cacophonous noise pollution, coming at us visually and auditorily from every-which direction at a breathtaking clip. Second, since we've invented ways of recording just about everything with audio and video, the premium on accurate, careful listing has simply disappeared. Third, we all have emotional filters, or biases, through which we unconsciously screen what we're actually paying attention to. The more important the subject matter, the stronger the emotional power of the filter over our hearts.
This third challenge to listening isn't new. Jesus frequently talked about this crippling impediment to hearing God. As we pick up our sermon series in the Gospel of Luke, we'll look at Luke 8:1-15 tomorrow, in which Jesus gives us the famous parable of the soils. The soils represent the condition of heart of each listener, when receiving the potent seed of the Gospel. Lots of people hear. Fewer listen. Fewer still understand, and are transformed. What makes the difference? God's grace penetrating our hard of hearing hearts. Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Only by the sovereign grace of God, does the Lord say to those who have understood the Gospel and humbly received it, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand."
To listen well, we need to muster significant energy. Listening takes work. Passively hearing is easy. Actively listening is exhausting. Skip the speech, just give me the soundbites. However, soundbites are superficial. The Lord wants His Word to shoot deep roots in the humble, tender, soil of hearts, to produce a miraculous harvest of 30, 60, even 100 fold.
See you tomorrow, and come ready to hear God's Word.
Praying for you,
Pastor Jan
Announcements
New Community Groups!
Weeknights
We are excited to announce new community groups!
Kenmore (launched Jan. 25)
Needham (launching Feb. 25)
Dorchester (launching Feb. 26th)
If you would like more information, visit our website or email admin@ mosaicboston.com.
Giving Statements
If you donated to Mosaic Boston - Brookline in 2018, we sent paper giving statements out recently (Jan. 31st). If you have not received one and would like to receive a PDF copy for tax purposes, email: admin@mosaicboston.com.
Songs for Sunday If you would like to know what we'll be singing on Sunday, you can find the playlist here.