We are excited to welcome Pastor Doug and Linda Vold to our Ascension family.  
 

EDUCATION Master of Divinity in Theology, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN 1981; Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA, 1977

EXPERIENCE Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Helena, MT for past 13 years; Pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Missoula, MT from 1992 to 1997; Re-Developer for Division for Outreach, ELCA, Missoula, MT from 1989 to 1992; Pastor of Lutheran Church of Sunburst, Sunburst, MT, from 1981 to 1989

PERSONAL MINISTRY STATEMENT It is a joy and a privilege to journey with people through life’s ups and downs, discovering together the grace of God that renews our life and our hope. My calling is to serve this grace we know in Jesus Christ and to lead the church in bringing it to the world.
 

PEOPLE WHO LISTEN

Pastor Doug Vold
 

From time to time I hear married couples joke about the hearing loss of the other. While hearing loss is not really anything to joke about, what they are actually teasing about has to do with listening, or the lack of it. I have heard it called “selective deafness” this phenomenon of only hearing some things, or only hearing what one wants to hear. It is a common malady in many areas of life.

Communication has been frequently cited as an issue here at Ascension. It is a top priority as something we need to work harder on and be better at. Communication, in these conversations, seems mostly to mean some form of information sharing. “Who is doing what?” we want to know. “Why did it happen that way?” And the point is certainly well taken. We want to be diligent about letting everybody know clearly what is going on.

But there is a deeper aspect to communication and it turns out to be a key aspect of the Christian life: listening. In Life Together Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love to God begins with listening to God’s Word, so the beginning of love for those in the community of faith is learning to listen to them.”

Listening is a great gift to give one another, especially because it is in such profoundly short supply in our world of talk and action, noise and busyness. Much of what passes for listening is simply waiting ones turn to speak, usually while preparing one’s next point. (OK. Not interrupting one another is a good start, but only a start.) But real listening means actually seeking understanding. It takes all of one’s attention. And it is an absolutely essential ingredient to community, to knowing one another, and to loving as God has loved us.

Even more, Bonhoeffer identifies listening as the key to reaching out. We tend to think that outreach and evangelism mean us having something that we give to others. We give them food. We bring them the Gospel. But what if the Gospel is in fact calling us to relationship? “Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians because these Christians are talking where they should be listening.” “Listening can be a greater service than speaking.”

What if our evangelism began with listening? Could we hear everything and not just some things? Would that be a worthy offering of ourselves? What if our love for one another manifested itself first and primarily in listening to each other? Could we hear more than just what we want to hear? What would it be like if God were at work in us to help us really pay attention? We might become known as people who listen. What kind of a reputation would that be?