HOW EACH STANCE FILTERS AS THEY LISTEN TO GOD
1. Disciples Who Seek To Perfect: listen for what is, what invites & what ensures goodness, improvement and perfection. This can devolve into black and white thinking and the unconscious belief that it is our goodness and perfection that earns our standing or worthiness before God. God's voice is filtered through what "should", "ought" or "must" be done. Unfiltered God can be heard in the still small voice calling the disciple to the joy of doing what she/he wants and brings them to life rather than what they think they should, ought to or need to do. Unfiltered God is often heard in the call to create and to find serenity in creation as it is rather than as it should be.
2. Disciples Who Seek To Connect: listen for what is, what invites & what ensures love & connection. This can devolve into the unconscious belief that it is our putting the needs of others before own that earns our standing or worthiness before God. God's voice is filtered through a sense of shame for not being there for persons who needed the disciple, even if it is that disciple's own health and wellbeing that needs attention. Unfiltered God can be heard in the still small voice calling the disciple to hold their ground, flip shame the middle finger and say no where they need to. Unfiltered God is often heard in the call to solitude & to be still (i.e. "green pastures" and "beside still waters") where the disciple can take the time alone with God they need to accept their limits and potentials. To borrow an image from the airline industry, it is the call to "put the oxygen mask on one's self before assisting others".
3. Disciples Who Seek Success & Efficiency: listen for what is, what invitees & what ensures efficiency as Jesus' command to “do this” is followed. This can devolve into the unconscious belief that it is what we achieve and are able to do in life that earns our standing or worthiness before God. God's voice is filtered through a sense that we must be human doings. Unfiltered God can heard in the still small voice inviting the disciple just to be rather than to do. Unfiltered God's voice is heard in the call to take a support role, help other's shine and learn that in the face of challenge and adversity you keep moving toward your goal knowing that God is more within you than within what you do.
4. Disciples Who Seek To Be Understood: listen for what is, what invites & what ensures inspiration, meaning & depth. This can devolve into the unconscious belief that it is our unique perception / insight and the depth of pain & sorrow unique to us that earns our standing or worthiness before God. God's voice is filtered through a sense of what's missing. God's voice is heard in and through the lament of heart and soul. Unfiltered God can be heard in the blessed assurance that nothing is missing. Apart from their understanding of others or the understanding others have of them, all is in fact well with their soul. God is heard in the still small voice that brings an inner balance, an outer harmony, a deep resonance with the world and a measured response to situations.
5. Disciples Who Seek Knowledge & Information: listen for what is, what invites & what ensures wisdom, knowledge and the more that comes from less. This can devolve into the unconscious belief that it is the ability of our mind and our acquisition of knowledge that earns our standing or worthiness before God. God's voice is filtered through a sense of deficiency, inadequacy and a lack of preparedness. The voice of the super ego often gets substituted for God's and its message is “You are good or okay if you have mastered something.” Unfiltered God can be heard in the call to push the super ego aside so as to trust their heart and go with their gut. Indeed, God's call to kindness is answered through the heart that has reasons the mind knows not of. And, disciples sense in their gut that they will never know enough, never master the wisdom of the universe and that that's okay. The voice of the One who has said, "My grace is sufficient for you." is heard clearest when one enters a state of not knowing.
6. Disciples Who Seek Security: listen for what is, what invites & what ensures loyalty & a secure future. This can devolve into the unconscious belief that it is our loyalty and ability to protect & preserve what we or others hold dear that earns our standing or worthiness before God. God's voice is filtered through a sense that God helps those who help themselves. God is heard in the call to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Unfiltered God can be heard in the voice that says, "Take nothing with you on your journey." (Mark 6:8) and counsels not to worry about our life, for "if God so cloths the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?" (Matthew 6:30). God is heard in BOTH in the voice which reminds the disciple not to worry (Matthew 6:31-33), that God will "keep their going out and their coming in from this time on forevermore." (Psalm 121) AND in the call to "Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." (Matthew 25:13).
7. Disciples Who Seek Options & Possibilities: listen for what are, what invites & what ensures joyful possibilities. This can devolve into the unconscious belief that it is our ability to claim joy amidst sorrow and pain that earns our standing or worthiness before God. God's voice is filtered through a sense that God has placed a sliver lining underneath every cloud. God is heard in words and sentiment similar to those reflected in the 1954 song "Smile" by John Turner & Geoffrey Parsons: "Smile though your heart is aching. Smile even though it's breaking...Light up your face with gladness. Hide every trace of sadness. Although a tear may be ever so near. That's the time you must keep on trying. Smile, what's the use of crying?" Unfiltered God can be heard in the Jesus who not only shares in Mary's pain over the death of her brother Lazarus becoming "greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved" but also in her tears. "Jesus began to weep" (John 11:35).
8. Disciples Who Seek Justice & Strength: listen for what is, what invites & what ensures power, dominion and a stewardship of justice that is tempered with love and compassion. This can devolve into the unconscious belief that it is our action (emphasis on our), strength and self-sufficiency that earns our standing and worthiness before God. God's voice is filtered through a sense that only the strong survive and that God (not only God's work) is dependent...not depends on but is dependent on our hands. God is heard in plowshares that are beat into swords and in the snap of the boot straps by which one pulls oneself up. Unfiltered God can be heard (after the third appeal) in the voice that says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9). Unfiltered God's voice is heard in what seems counter intuitive. The voice which says "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34) is the same that calls us to put down our swords (John 18:11 ). As we embrace innocence and vulnerability we find the confidence to say with St. Paul "whenever I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10).
9. Disciples Who Seek Peace & Harmony: listen for what is, what invites & what ensures a peaceful environment where all are seen. This can devolve into the unconscious belief that it is our support of others that earns our standing or worthiness before God. God's voice is filtered through a sense that peace is dependent upon us (Romans 12:18). God is heard in the call to go along to get along and to put ourselves in the shoes of another. Unfiltered God can be heard in the reminder that this call does not involve leaving our own shoes behind. The One who says, "Blessed are the peacemakers..."in Matthew 5:9 is the same One who speaks in John 7:3b-6 denying the spotlight for himself, yet encouraging it for us saying, "your time is always near." Unfiltered God is heard in what for this disciple is an unnatural and uncomfortable invitation to step out and stand out, to show themselves (their wants, their needs and their opinions) to the world for the sake of the world.
Creating compassionate curiosity within a community of disciples who seek to listen to God together helps the community as it seeks to better understand what God might be up to in their midst. Listening to stories about what each disciple longs for and what they’ve lost (or are afraid to lose) helps hearts align with God’s own heart as it is revealed in Jesus. What God cares about “most” is therefore not fully known in one discipleship stance over another.