Unpacking Ideas

If we are approaching maturity, we know that it’s hard to be Christian but it’s dull to be anything else.                                 — William Sloane Coffin, 1982 When reading a William Sloane Coffin sermon I expect to be challenged by the radical social demands of the Gospel of Christ.  I expect prophetic social disturbance.  I expect to squirm uncomfortably [...]

We have tinkered with this question before. We could say that bigger is more effective. After all, bigger means more people, and more people in church must be a good thing, right? It depends.

We love growth. We love more. We love big. In church, we especially love more and big. But is more and bigger always good if it means the Christ we end up following is not the Christ of the Gospels?

What’s wrong with flourishing opinions? A flourish of opinions would be fine if we’re talking about real opinions. Too often, however, my opinion is really not an opinion at all but an assertion — as if fact.

In our day, in our culture as Americans, we might do well to wonder if we are too comfortable with our faith. As Christians we could ask: Do we practice a kind of faith that Jesus would even recognize?

In my world fundamentalism — religious and political — lurks all around me, so I readily grabbed at doubt as a convenient handle for my reaction against the extreme that I tend to notice daily. I read the entire book but came away with what I needed — a fresh approach to help me counter the purveyors of hollow certitude around me. Also, it seemed to me, regardless of which perpective we carry, when we enter the dance of a conversation in hopes of a healthy “turn about” of ideas, it is the overabundance of certitude that more often smothers the music for one or both dancers.

If my willingness to doubt permits me to welcome additional, even oppositional ideas, then at the very least my original idea has an opportunity to be compared, tested and perhaps strengthened. At the very most, my idea grows creatively into much more than I considered possible or available before.

To lead with my center in a good conversation means I will care more about you and less about being right. To lead with my center in a good conversation means I might find myself following, or leading no one because we disagree. And what I might learn is that when I dancing or conversing if I lead with my center, whether my feet follow or not, I will still enjoy the dance. I will still enjoy you.

A good conversation is better than information sharing. A good conversation is like dancing. Linda and I are taking ballroom dancing lessons. Imagine the chaos. We are learning about conversation without words. When she and I dance, sometimes she knows where I am going, sometimes she doesn’t! Sometimes I go left and she follows, other times I go left and she goes somewhere else. This confusion of direction is usually not her fault because I am not very good communicating with her about where we are supposed to be going.I like good conversation. We all need good conversation, in every relationship, at home, at work, in government and across governments, and across cultures. I like good conversation and I have some hope because I like dance, even if I don’t know where we are going, and even if we do not end up in the same place.

I heard a story of a teacher wanting to impress upon his students the importance of thorough observation.  He purchased several dead fish from a local market and placed them in trays in front of his students.  His instructions were simple:  Describe the fish in detail. Look Again The students wrote their observations and handed in their assignments.  [...]