Be heard: A reflection for Pride In Liverpool
Revd Lu Skerratt-Love preaching at Liverpool Cathedral’s Pride service
AT THE CLOSE of Pride in Liverpool on Sunday 28th July 2024, Liverpool Cathedral and Open Table collaborated to host a reflective service that brought us together and celebrated the vulnerability and visibility of Pride.
The theme of the service was ‘Be heard’, echoing the theme chosen for Pride In Liverpool this year. Revd Lu Skerrat-Love, ordained at the city’s cathedral in June to serve the parish which hosts the first Open Table community, offered this reflection inspired by the readings: 1 Kings 19:11-13 and Luke 19:28-40.
Can you hear it? Yes, that. That sound. The sound of God. The sound of silence.
It’s a bit different from the noise and hubbub of yesterday’s march isn’t it? But no less full, no less expectant, no less holy.
Silence is a particular sound, isn’t it? Or perhaps we could even describe it as an emotion. I don’t think it’s nothingness or emptiness, or necessarily even a thing to be afraid of. Rather, this evening I’d like to suggest it can be just a second, or a moment, when we can catch our breath, pause or maybe, like Elijah, when everything slows down and we can experience the sheer love of being heard by God.
You might be wondering with a service called Be Heard why I’m talking about something which seems like the antithesis of that. Surely silence and being heard are a paradox?
However, I’d like to suggest that being heard is not just about being listened to, because we all do that day after day, and get up to a million other things at the same time. Even this morning, I was listening to the radio, and my partner, the seagulls, and the next door neighbour’s children. I’m sure the majority of us listen without even thinking. It’s a bit like how in most cases our heart just beats for us - we trust it’s happening (well, we know it’s happening) and we just carry on our experiencing life in our souls and bodies, not paying attention to the amazing miracle that’s going on inside in each and every one of us.
So what is the difference then between listening and being heard? I think when we’re heard, properly heard, there is a deeper, more profound relational intention and connection. It’s often accompanied by silence, and often a space where something important is revealed to us about ourselves, or a person we care about. It’s active, and rarely happens alone.
To put it in everyday terms, I’ll explain a little more: Have you ever had a conversation with someone that felt really important? Maybe even life-changing? Perhaps this was a coming out conversation, or one where you really needed to tell a person (or people) something really important that meant a lot to you or that you desperately needed to share? Or maybe it was a conversation where you told someone you loved them, or that you needed the relationship to end? You know, those really deep conversations that, well, if you’re anything like me, have a sleepless night over beforehand?
And in that conversation, in the silence between what you said and the person’s response, have you ever felt completely heard? Taken seriously? Loved more and more with every word you uttered, or whispered, or exclaimed? As Nelle Morton said, were you not just listened to, but heard into speech? It is in this pause, this breath, this moment of being known, where I think we can experience God as being present amongst us and within us, where the holy act of being heard is a blessing in our midst.
You see, the thing about God, about our faith in Christ, is that we are called to live as people of faith, hope, and love. And we can only live as people of faith, hope, and love, if we are also simultaneously called to be all God has created us to be, completely authentic, completely honest, completely ourselves. We are called to not just listen or be listened to, but to hear, and be heard for all that we have been, all that we are, and all we are yet to be. This is perhaps counter-cultural, but no less vital to our collective flourishing.
We witness in our reading from Kings that Elijah wants to give up, he’s exhausted by what God seems to be calling him to do. So he goes to a deserted place, the mount of Horeb, and there he experiences the sound of sheer silence, the sound of being heard completely, the sound of God. Likewise in our passage from Luke, the people who have followed Jesus into Jerusalem have experienced the love of God through being taken seriously, being heard, being seen completely for who they are and the stories they hold, and they can’t stay silent about it. Luke tells us that even the stones would shout aloud if they could.
I wonder what you think these stones would say?
I like to imagine that they’d exclaim how this Jesus is doing a different thing, he’s helping people to see themselves just as God sees them, beautiful, holy, sacred, and he does this through a deeper listening, where every word expressed is a prayer to the Creator, and where those who are struggling can be taken seriously, and heard into speech.
My prayer this Pride weekend, is that we can all have the courage to not just listen, but to hear. To take seriously the voices in our community, especially our trans siblings, and trans women of colour in particular who are suffering, who are being ignored, sidelined and vilified.
May we ensure those experiencing continued marginalisation and discrimination are not just listened to but lifted up high above the parapet and heard. May we encourage our siblings to stand on our shoulders and raise their voices high so even the stones of our government buildings want to shout aloud for trans rights!
