Listen Much to Sacred Stories (Testimony Sunday)
Testimony Sunday – June 29th, 2025 – Listen Much to Sacred Stories
Today is the fifth Sunday of the month, which means that instead of our usual sermon at this time, we are going to share testimonies with one another, stories of God’s presence and grace in our lives that we’ve noticed in recent months.
I want to share with you a portion from a book Paul and I have been reading in our Funky Fridays reading adventures. This is from The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, in the section entitled Listen Much. I adapted this slightly to better fit our context by altering two insignificant details:
“Every Sunday night in the novitiate, our community gathered for ‘faith sharing,’ which meant speaking to one another about our spiritual lives: where we had experienced God in our daily lives and what our prayer was like.
There were two rules. First, everything was confidential. Second, no comments were allowed after someone spoke, unless it was a question asked to clarify something.
The first rule made sense. The second seemed ridiculous. Early on, when people expressed their struggles, I wanted to say, ‘why not try this?’ If someone talked about being lonely, I wanted to say, ‘Knock on my door.’ I couldn’t understand why the novice director wanted us to be silent.
Gradually I realized: it was so we could listen.
Listening is a lost art. We want to listen, we want to think we’re listening, but we are often so busy planning what we’re going to say in response or what advice we’re going to give, that we fail to pay attention.
As Gerry, our novice director, explained, there was ample time in the novitiate to console, to counsel, and to advise. The practice echoed one of Ignatius’s lesser-known sayings: ‘Speak little, listen much.’ We were also told that keeping everything strictly confidential made people feel more relaxed.
Gradually I grew to love faith sharing. When [others] shared about how they had experienced God in the previous week, I was fascinated. What a wonder to see how complicated [they each] were and how much they were all trying to grow in holiness, trying to be better men [and women].”
Okay, now it’s your turn. For reference, our previous Testimony Sunday was way back at the end of March, about three months ago. Where have you experienced God recently? In what part of your life have you noticed God’s fingerprints? How has God scribed this chapter of your story? You may sense a prompting to share a part of your story that stirs wonder or gratitude or unbounded joy. You may feel lead to share a part of your story that evokes wondering or grief or unanswered questions. Our stories are all connected to God’s story. And the very process of noticing and describing these connections become sacramental moments, when our ordinary human reality somehow discloses the very presence of God. As we share our stories, God transforms our ordinary stories into sacred stories through which God speaks.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (The Message) assures us, “You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? … God’s temple is sacred – and you, remember, are the temple.”
If you have a testimony of God’s provision, an experience of God’s power, or a story of God’s presence to share and you’re in the room, I invite you to make your way to the front seat over here in readiness. If you have a story to share and you’re on Zoom, please let Paul know and he’ll give me a signal.
