Listening to understand not reply

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a remarkable church.  It happens to be one of my favorite churches to visit in the Old City of Jerusalem.  Inside are six different strands of Christianity that celebrate the place where Christ was crucified and buried.  Represented in this church are the Franciscan, Armenian, Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Ethiopic, and Coptic churches.  Each commemorates the crucifixion in their own way.  In going through the church, one sees fellow believers worshiping in a plethora of ways.  Certainly, from western eyes, the sight can be a bit overwhelming with experiences vastly different from our own typical church service.  Once you push past this, however, it is a beautiful picture of the body of Christ... except for one small thing.  A ladder.

You see this particular ladder has a long history.  It has been entitled the "immovable ladder" and has been around for over 250 years.  Pope Paul VI once called this a sign of Christian division.  Indeed, it has also been called the "status quo" ladder.  It is a symbol of the underlying conflicts of the different sects found in the church and stands as a testament to trying not to upset the status quo.  The story is different depending on where you find it.  The general consensus however is that a mason left it there by accident in the 18th century.  Since no one sect can alter any of the property without the consent of all the other parties, the ladder has remained.  Unfortunately, the ladder is only the beginning of the disharmony among the sects in the church.

Now, before you get the impression that I am ridiculing this church, I want to ensure you that I hold this church in high regard and the sects represented there in awe.  This church is on perhaps the holiest of sites for Christians and the diverse nature of the sects make conflict almost unavoidable.  If anything the church gives hope that in the midst of our imperfection some form of unity can be found.

Recently, I have had many conversations with people regarding various church traditions and find that many people are not only suspicious of traditions outside their own, but are actually hostile towards them.  They cite peripheral issues as being their reasons for their mistrust and in some cases even doubt whether or not they are indeed Christian.  It is disheartening to watch and see.  This is probably most evident in America where individualism has bred division within the church.  Denominations continue to split off and we are left growing ever disjointed in a world that desperately needs a unified message of hope.  It is estimated that there are currently 41,000 different denominations of Christianity.  I come from a non-denominational background and once thought that was the answer to this disunity.  The problem is that each non-denominational church has their own essential doctrine and thus it is easy for a single non-denominational church to be its own denomination.

Why is it then that there is so much disunity among believers?  Why do we react with hostility and suspicion when it comes to faith traditions that are not our own?  We harp so often on our differences, that we've completely neglected the fact that much of our beliefs are very similar and if we just listen we may even learn something that will enhance our own worship.  We want to make sure that we have the perfect theology or the right answer to every doctrinal question, but we are also convinced that we indeed have all the answers.  I'm not saying things like theology or doctrine aren't important, but I am saying that in the pursuit of these things we cannot and should not try to codify God.  Doing so would make us god.

At the risk of overgeneralizing the problem, I want to suggest that our problem stems from the tendency to listen in order to respond rather than listening to understand.  We often listen intently to opinions outside our own, but it often happens that we are only listening enough to form a reasonable argument for the contrary.  Again, I'm not saying that everything we hear should be assimilated.  Far from it.  There are many doctrines within Christianity that are nonnegotiable.  What I am trying to convey, however, is that we need to listen to truly understand others.  Too often our differences among traditions come about because both parties refuse to understand the other.  We humans are inherently bad at seeing someone else's point of view especially those that we disagree with.  I personally have found that when I listen in order to formulate a response, I end up building a wall.  When I listen in order to understand, however, I end up building a bridge.  What kind of builder do you want to be?