August 13, 2014
Hear, Hear
I’ve always thought the
phrase “hear, hear” was a cheer, or a shout-out in agreement with what was said.
In looking for the origin, credit is given to the Bible as the first recorded
use of the phrase in 2 Sam 20:16 (KJV). I also found a reference to the British
parliament in the 18th century using a somewhat expanded version,
“hear him, hear him,” which to me implies deeper meaning that implores others
to listen to what is being said. In the
church our shout-out in agreement would be Amen. Interesting some pastors have
slipped into the habit calling for an Amen when they say something that they
think is noteworthy. In my parenting days I said a lot of noteworthy things to
my children that appeared to go in one ear and out the other. Now I’m thinking
I should have added the caveat, “hear me, hear me” or, “do I hear an Amen to
that?”
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----God created the heavens and the earth and filled them with reproducing life which has now birthed us. But, in as much as we are less the bodies we were birthed in and more the minds within them, we create ourselves with our thoughts, and especially with our decisions. Yet our chosen desires and ambitions must not distance us too far from our chosen company. To grasp both often means compromise. Sometimes we must limit what we express amongst certain company. But we learn early in life that we can still think what we want.
-----This is a useful freedom until we realize there’s more company than contained in the bodies around us. We can also choose to compromise for that company (His grace is His compromise, for any sin at all deserves destruction,) or go away from it thinking what we want. Exploring the former, desires for His company become a useful tool in dealing with one another. Now there is the effects of needing to maintain honesty that goes beyond the effects of mere physical expressions.
-----When a certain idea offered to us is not desirable to us, abandoning it causes no problem to honesty. The transaction was complete when the idea was offered by one and heard by the other. Nor does it matter how we dress the offer. It could be a suggestion to hear. It could be a command to hear. But when it is heard the mission is completed even though it may not have become a thought or induced a feeling. We carefully cloth, house, and feed our bodies because they are important and real. But our minds are even more so. And though we recognize this, do we really ponder how much ideas and feelings cloth, shelter, and feed what we really are? Important ideas are often cavalierly abandoned.
-----We innately know it, but we do not ponder it enough to abide by the logic rhetoric only implies. And by the compromises we so willingly make to be around the ones we love, many important ideas are packaged in rhetoric with the expectations they will be unwrapped and consumed by logic. But what is offered rhetorically can honestly be accepted as stated, the call to hear being treated as no more than a command to hear only. We know deep down it meant think, ponder, or even commit, too. But that wasn’t actually asked, so it wasn’t actually given. Though honesty has been attended on the technical level, it has been ignored on the thoughtful level. And all of this everyone knows, because it is human nature.
-----Which is the nature God has called us to improve and reshape. I think many people have trouble with the Bible because it calls us to treat its rhetoric logically and thoughtfully honest. The few who unpack it thus are those whose hearts are inclined to the right, a kind of calling to commitment by the Holy Spirit, a kind of ears to hear thing. So their minds cloth, house, and feed themselves with thoughts and feelings purposefully selected for the keeping of His company, building a solid structure upon a solid foundation.
-----Now, having given it enough pondering, I hear your call. I too only offer truths conforming to Him for hearing while knowing they need to be accepted. Making a request for commitment to at least ponder an idea challenges someone to further define himself before the Lord by his decision. It is a powerful request not for cavalier use.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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