How's your listening?

At Grace Church when someone preaches we try to review their preaching with them, not every time they preach, but fairly regularly.  The practice helps sharpen us up as preachers of God's word.  It helps us spot verbal and visible habits which might distract people from what we are saying.  It helps us see if we are preaching in a way that is relevant to the whole congregation rather than just people like us.  It also keeps us faithful to God's word not our latest fad or hobby horse.

But as churches we rarely do a review of our listening.  Have you ever sat and wondered what you are like to preach to?  Are you someone who encourages the preacher to teach you God's word and apply it to you?  Or are you someone who saps the energy of a preacher or distracts others around you?  Here's a light hearted look at some different type of listener, which one are you?

The whisperer
This person will lean across and whisper to those around them at various points in the talk, often smiling at some shared joke or comment they have made whilst totally unaware that their "whisper" was heard by almost the whole church, who are now looking at them wondering what the joke was.

The snoozer
Sometimes due to a disrupted night with the kids or medication, or the fact that their team was last on on Match of the Day people just drop off.  One time such a dropping off was accompanied by a clunk as the gentleman's false teeth clattered to the floor.  But mostly it's just the drooping head followed by a jerk of the neck as their chin reaches their chest and they fight again for consciousness.  Sometimes it's accompanied by the noise of an angry beehive

The living dead
This person is awake, well their eyes are open, but they are glazed over and totally unresponsive.  As you preach you find yourself willing someone too poke them whilst mentally reminding yourself of CPR (who says preachers can't multitask!).  Oddly enough these people are often the ones who ask you questions proving they weren't dead they were listening.

The rustler
This person can't make it through a sermon without sweets to eat, presumably the sugars keep them from becoming comatose.  But why oh why do they choose the sweet with multiple wrappers and then entomb them in a paper bag that sounds as if they are sandpapering a rocking chair as they search for each and every sweet?

The rage
This persons eyebrows knit together the moment the last notes of the song fade and they realise the preaching has begun.  They stay knitted together in a perpetual frown for the whole time you preach.  As the sermon continues you wonder at what point they will burn you as a heretic after the service as they clearly disagree with everything you have said.

The distracted
This person has roving eye syndrome.  Not in terms of looking at others in the congregation but in terms of looking at everything other than the preacher.  Every time you look at them it looks as if they are counting the roof tiles, or how many bricks are between the projector screen and the band.

The pretender
This person is on their phone.  They will tell you that they have a bible app on their, but no bible app I've ever come across requires you to tap, swipe and flick as if you are playing angry birds.

I consider myself very fortunate with Grace Church, we have few of the above and lots of great listeners.  Listeners who make eye contact as if willing you to speak God's word to their hungry hearts.  Who smile and nod as they see where you are going.  Who work hard to avoid distraction and have disciplined themselves to listen well, knowing that good listening encourages good preaching.  And good listeners encourage a preacher to ignore the dozer, the pretender the rustler and the whisperer, because someone is hungry for God's word.