Our chief of staff in a field exercise, some years ago, needed to address the staff and gathered us around him. From the very back someone yelled, "Can't hear you!" The colonel demanded to know who yelled, and an embarrassed lieutenant raised his hand. He ordered the young and very thoughtless officer to the front, looked him squarely in the eyes: "Now, listen!"

While speakers have the duty to communicate effectively, we have the obligation to listen receptively -- to accept personal responsibility for receiving the message. It is to our loss if we dismiss out-of-hand what a speaker or writer says because it might be weak. We have both the opportunity and responsibility to learn, whether teaching took place or it did not.

This principle applies in every communication relationship. It is true of teachers and students daily, of preachers and congregation at least weekly. It is true of newspaper writers and readers. If you don't get the message, go and get the message.

A good number of years ago I told a colleague I had enrolled in a university off-site class taught by a certain adjunct professor. He warned me against the man because "I didn't learn a thing." I replied, I will. I will make him teach me whether he was going to or not. I will learn from him whether he teaches or not.

Warned adequately, I went to classes with prepared questions. If the professor didn't give answers, I asked the questions. When he couldn't answer a question, I asked him to come to the next session with it. I talked with him during breaks and after dismissal. Extremely important: I thanked him for what I did learn. Better yet: I showed him I was using what I had learned.

Other students began to do the same thing. Increasingly, my prepared questions were anticipated. Eventually, I stopped preparing them. Something had happened when the professor recognized we actually wanted to learn from him.

I feel every time a student goes to class, he or she needs to say to themselves: I will learn. I will make the teacher teach. If I can't learn from the teacher, I'll find out where I can learn. Classmates are the best bet.

When people go to church, they ought to go with a similar attitude. I will hear and learn and understand no matter what the preacher says or fails to say. We ought to listen and learn from what he or she says, but not listening is an unacceptable alternative. While I am not here advocating thinking or reading on your own while the clergyperson preaches, this is yet more productive than going to sleep. (After all, if all people who sleep in church were laid end-to-end … they would be more comfortable.) Take the preacher's thesis or theme and preach it to yourself. Read the Bible text silently and see what you can get from it directly.

Afterward tell others what you learned rather than complaining about the preaching. Don't lie to the preacher, e.g., "Nice sermon!" Ask him what he said. He might not know, but I'll bet he will find out.

So, too, concerning newspapers. Read us critically; that is to say, chew on what you read rather than nibbling at it. Think it through. If you really want to know, contact the writer and talk about the article. If you regularly do not understand, tell the paper --but, crucial, tell why you don't understand and make suggestions as to how you might be able to understand.

A major reason speakers (whether teachers, preachers, or others) speak indifferently is they have little reason to believe it would make any difference. When their audiences correct this attitude, most will speak to make a difference.

Dr. Wallace Alcorn’s commentaries appear in the Herald on Mondays