Is conversation a lost art?

Is it possible to have a conversation with someone who is unable or unwilling to acknowledge that your perspective on the issue- though completely different than his own- may have elements of truth to it?  To put it another way: Is it worth the effort to converse with a person who is convinced she has nothing new to learn on the subject, ensuring that her opinion will not change regardless of a different perspective, experience, or source of information?

I’ve been wondering about this for a while.  My interest isn’t in any specific subject or conversation topic, but in the posture we take when confronted with opinions and beliefs that differ from our own.  This becomes interesting when an opinion is closely held like, say, the current debates about health care or immigration reform.  It becomes even more interesting when those with differing opinions share the same convictions in other important areas, such as religious belief or political ideology.

Are we able to talk with and listen to those we disagree with? I ask, because I’m not sure we can.

As someone without cable, I’m always borderline appalled by the tenor of the 24-hour news networks.  It’s amazing how much can be said with so much conviction with the full knowledge that no one is going to change their mind!  It’s clear that the talking (shouting) heads are directing their expert opinions at the already convinced.  In a way, these cable channels remind me of some of the sermons and teaching I’ve heard in my years in church.  The efforts to prove the superiority of our faith are, in reality, meant mostly for the already-convinced.  This may not be bad, but shouldn’t be mistaken for good-faith conversation.

Why, aside from the loss of civility, does this matter?  We live at a time when we can get our news and opinions from a source whose ideology we agree with.  We can choose a church based on our list of preferences.  Even the selection of friends, perhaps unintentionally, involves shared beliefs and views of the world.  Within this context, disagreements must be manufactured: whose college football team should be ranked higher this week.  The real work of conversation disappeared when we lost touch with that last odd friend (i.e. left-wing, right-wing, fundamentalist Christian, atheist) from the old days.

Even so, I think it matters whether or not we’re able to converse with those whose lives and perspectives differ from our own.  For one, it’s just silly to think we have all the information or knowledge we need to never shift our views.  This is particularly true of Christians who believe we only know God because God has revealed God’s-self to us.  We, of all people, are deeply aware of our inability to know everything fully.

Secondly, even the most culturally insular places are now exposed to all sorts of diversity.  It’s impossible to miss the impact a person’s culture and life experience has on the way the world is viewed.  Again, Christians ought to be on the leading edge of this.  We belong to a faith tradition that spans the globe and which looks radically different depending on cultural traditions and values.  Are we able to converse with those we differ with, acknowledging that our differences are likely shaped by where we come from?

Here’s my last reason why conversation matters- though I hope you’ll chime in with some additions.  When we stop listening to those with whom we differ, we stop learning.  Some of my most profound moments of understanding started at points of disagreement.  In a class, at a pub or over an online exchange, when I’ve shut up for a few minutes and began to ask questions (Why do you think that?) my own viewpoint is enhanced.  This isn’t about gaining more information but acquiring wisdom.  The ways of God become more evident to us when we have new vantage points from which to observe and experience God’s activity and character.

I care about conversation because I’m aware of how little I know.  I care about conversation because the world is a fascinating place filled with incredible people who have amazing stories to tell.  Here’s hoping for more contrarian and kind partners in conversation.

The Book of Eli

I saw The Book of Eli while in Denver last week and  posted some thoughts over at rednoW.

“What does he know?”

This is, throughout the ravaged landscape of The Book of Eli, the unavoidable question we ask of the title character. Denzel Washington plays Eli, a wanderer both desperate and serene, who trudges slowly and purposefully West. Hidden in his satchel, along with the necessities for physical survival in post-apocalyptic America, is a Holy Book, Eli’s spiritual sustenance in a world that- quite literally- would like nothing more than to devour him. We are given only small clues of the brutalizing past that left the world coated in dust and misery, but the desperate and thirsty present proves no place for a lone traveler. Unless, like Eli, that traveler possesses an otherworldly sixth sense and the ability to dispatch with anyone who threatens his journey. What does Eli know about his book? Is it madness or a spiritual quest that wakes him each morning, set for another day under the punishing sun?

Read the rest over at rednoW.

New Community Coveant Church: Bronzeville

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update about our church planting efforts in Bronzeville.  We’re now less than a week from our first preview service and the excitement and to-do list are rapidly increasing.  Last night we spent some time walking and praying through Drake Elementary School where we’ll be holding our Sunday services.  It was almost surreal; after a year of planning, working and praying we were actually in the building.

Our website is in the process of being updated, but here are the important things:

• Our first preview service is this Sunday at 11:30 at Drake (2722 S King Dr, Chicago).  The next two preview services will take place on February 28 and March 21.  (A “preview” service is simply a way for us to ease into weekly services.  It allows us to work out the kinks and have time to make adjustments between services.)
• On Easter Sunday, 4/4, our church in Logan Square will commission and pray for all of us who are starting New Community Bronzeville.
• The following Sunday, 4/11, we begin weekly services.

Those of you praying folk who read this blog, would you consider praying about the following?

• For those who might encounter a loving God for the first time through this church.
• For the amazing team of folks who are working so hard to make sure this comes together.
• For opportunities to partner with the elementary school.  We’ve already begun talking with the administration about helping with tutoring and after-school programs.

The next few weeks promise to be hectic, so the blog may be somewhat quiet.  I promise to let you know how things go this coming Sunday.  And for those of you in the area, know you’re always welcome to stop by our new church on a Sunday.

Bright-Sided

A review I wrote for Christianity Today of Barbara Ehrenreich’s latest, Bright-Sided, is now available online.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book  and have been impressed with how it’s affected how I view such a pervasive element of American culture.

On a recent fall day in Texas, a large crowd gathered for the well-known Get Motivated! business seminar. Before the keynote speaker emerged, 11,000 attendees danced to “Surfin’ USA” while swatting beach balls around the auditorium. When the music subsided, former President George W. Bush emerged to give one of his first speeches since leaving office. Among other feel-good themes, the President-turned-motivational speaker encouraged faith, optimism, and principled living.

Why would Bush make his most prominent post-presidency appearance at such a hokey venue? For Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America (Metropolitan), his decision made perfect sense. In its many forms, the positive thinking movement—everything from “possibility thinking” to The Secret, Your Best Life Now, and the Chicken Soup for the Soul series—has reached complete saturation within American culture. It has also crept into American Christianity, and that, says the author, is nothing to feel good about.

Read the rest at Christianity Today.

Photos from Glen Eyrie

A few photos from the first few days at Glen Eyrie just outside Colorado Springs.  The first two are views from outside our lodge and the second two are from the Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel.

It’s been a good few days, despite seriously missing family back home.  This is a beautiful area and while we’re mostly in class there have been a few small chunks of time to actually enjoy the landscape.

On Reading (& Retaining) Great Books

One of the blogs I link to, A Fiercer Delight and a Fiercer Discontent, is kept by Stanford Gibson, a man with a wide (and deep) range of interests.  Exhibit A: the list of books he read in 2009.  Especially interesting to me about this list was the presence of two rather large and complex books of theology: Augustine’s City of God and The New Testament and the People of God by N.T. Wright.  I asked Stanford about his approach to such books and his answer is worth sharing here.

1. Read and Outline. Try to do separate the reading and the note taking by a few days so that it is two discrete interactions with the material. Try to summarize each chapter in less than 2 pages of quotes and themes. I tend to think that the less I try to retain the more I do. For popular works or fiction, I usually just record a few quotes that seem promising as future illustration material.

2. Discuss it. The major works that I have retained most successfully are the ones I read in community. I had a reading partner (Tyler the winemaker who shows up in this blog from time to time) for a couple years and am in a weekly reading group now. There is a pacing effect (e.g. it is more effective to run in a group because the group pace is faster than anyone would keep individually), but the main benefit is the insights, applications and illustrations that emerge in communal exegesis.

3. Revisit the notes. I try to set aside a couple weeks each year that are devoted to reviewing notes from some of these major works or other works I want to retain. Since I generally know my preaching schedule a year in advance, and keep files on upcoming topics or passages I know I am going to preach, this allows salient ideas from previous reading can to their way into contemporary reflection. I don’t do this as much or as systematically as I would like, but have gotten to the point that I would rather retain and implement 20% of the content of one good book than read 5 and keep 1% each.

Be sure to check out Stanford’s entire list of books from 2009.

What should I do in Colorado?

Today I leave for 10 days in Colorado.  I should be excited, but the idea of leaving family behind and returning  just seven days before our church plant’s first preview service had dampened my enthusiasm.  Even so, 10 days in Colorado is nothing to sneeze at so I’m doing my best to be grateful.

Having never been to Colorado I’m curious what I should see or do should I stumble upon some free time. For the first few nights I’ll be taking a class at Glen Eyrie (a castle!) outside of Colorado Springs.  On Sunday I return to Denver for the Evangelical Covenant Church’s annual MidWinter conference.

So, if I find myself with a free evening or afternoon is there anything I shouldn’t miss?

Also, any chance there are some Signs of Life readers who will be attending MidWinter next week?

The Autobiography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today Americans celebrate Dr. King’s life and legacy.  Observed as a federal holiday since 1983- Martin Luther King Jr. Day was re-framed as a national day of service in 1994- it wasn’t until 2000 that every state officially recognized the holiday.  There are few Americans as well-known or oft-quoted as Dr. King, yet many of us have read or heard relatively little from the man himself.  The Autobiography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a great place to start.

Because Dr. King never had the opportunity to write his memoirs, this substantial book has been edited by Clayborne Carson, the immensely qualified Stanford University history professor.  Carson is the editor of the definitive King Papers Project, including the audio version of A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., a worthy addition to your mp3 player.

From his years of research Dr. Carson is able to edit a first-person narrative that traces the arc of Dr. King’s childhood, pastorate, family life, and leadership within the civil rights movement.  This last theme receives the most attention and sheds considerable light on the context- historical, cultural, and theological- of those days.  The well-known events which have been flattened and simplified over time are shown in The Autobiography to have been incredibly complex, nuanced, and without guarantee of success.

This book gives us the chance to see the very human Martin King.  Rather than editing a hagiography, Carson has included the poignant moments when Dr. King experienced fear, doubt and confusion.  Great speeches and prophetic correspondence are interspersed with Dr. King’s deep concern for the safety of his family and emotional toll from living a very public life.

Readers will also appreciate the theology and rooted conviction that emerge from these pages.  Dr. King’s iconic status means his words are often lifted and co-opted for a variety of purposes, resulting in a man bound neither by time nor specific belief.  Such an ahistorical view ignores the fact that Dr. King’s vision and leadership came from somewhere.  Carson captures a man who wrestled intensely with his Christian theology in order to give philosophical and structural underpinnings to a freedom movement that would be assailed from all sides.

In the end, Dr. King saw the death and resurrection of Jesus, “that great event on Calvary,” as the hope for genuine reconciliation and justice, the foundation for “the beloved community.”  The Autobiography makes clear that one of America’s greatest preachers and leaders still has much to teach us today.

____________________

Related…

• Martin Luther King Jr., 40 Years Today
• Has Obama’s Election Fulfilled Dr. King’s Dream?

Haiti Earthquake Updates

• The Big Picture Blog has posted it’s second set of photos from Haiti, including this one provided by the UN.  Be warned, many of these photos are incredibly difficult to take in.

• The FBI has posted helpful tips to avoid being scammed when donating to the relief effort.  Number 2: Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
• Can my Christian family agree to ignore the Pat Robertson nonsense for the time being?  Whether you think the man was out of line or on point, this story threatens to distract from the far more significant events taking place in Haiti.  Using Facebook or Twitter to distance oneself from Robertson seems only to draw attention back to ourselves.  Are you worried your non-Christian friends assume you share Robertson’s belief?  Surely you haven’t given them enough credit.  Perhaps the best thing to come from this story is the possible mud-wrestling match between mega-church pastor Rick Warren and Rain Wilson (Dwight from The Office).

Haiti Earthquake

UPDATE: See additional ways to support the relief effort below.

Details are still sketchy about the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti yesterday, though with daybreak that will soon change.  The country was still recovering- an inadequate word for the poorest nation in the western hemisphere- from a category 4 hurricane in 2008.  [See "Haiti's History of Devastation" in the Toronto Star.]   Initial reports indicate the death toll and injuries have been significant.

Source: CIA World Factbook

Though Haiti is less than 2,000 miles from the USA, most of us know and hear very little about this Caribbean nation on the island of Hispaniola.  About 20 years ago I spent one night in the capital, Port-au-Prince.  My dad and I (as the passenger) were ferrying a small airplane from California to Venezuela and our route took us through Haiti.  Having grown up in South America I was used to occasional scenes of poverty, but there was nothing in my experience that compared with what we saw in Haiti.  Flying away the next morning we could easily spot the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic: green tropical forest to the east and a gray, smoking landscape to the west.  I’ve never again seen anything so utterly sad.

In the coming days there will certainly be financial appeals to aid in the relief work in Haiti.  Tall Skinny Kiwi points to World Vision and Yele Haiti as reputable agencies worthy of your donations.  Is anyone aware of additional organizations doing responsible development work in Haiti?

UPDATE:

• Andy Crouch recommends Beyond Borders for “long-term change” in Haiti.
• Nicholas Kristof points to a ways to help via ABC News.
• A rather comprehensive list of relief agencies in the New York Times.
• My Mom rightly points out that MAF, the agency my Dad flew with during our visit to Haiti, will be providing relief and surveying flights to the more remote areas.
• We learned this morning that Maggie’s sister is in route to Haiti with a response team from Samaritan’s Purse.  She and those she will serve are in our prayers.  The expect to be on the ground for at least two weeks.
• In President Obama’s short speech this morning he directed people to visit whitehouse.gov to donate.

The CIA World Factbook contains some background information that will be helpful to keep in mind in the following days as we learn more about this disaster.

Background:

The native Taino Amerindians – who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when it was discovered by COLUMBUS in 1492 – were virtually annihilated by Spanish settlers within 25 years. In the early 17th century, the French established a presence on Hispaniola. In 1697, Spain ceded to the French the western third of the island, which later became Haiti. The French colony, based on forestry and sugar-related industries, became one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean but only through the heavy importation of African slaves and considerable environmental degradation. In the late 18th century, Haiti’s nearly half million slaves revolted under Toussaint L’OUVERTURE. After a prolonged struggle, Haiti became the first black republic to declare independence in 1804.

Populations:

9,035,536

note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2009 est.)

Economy:

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty. Two-thirds of all Haitians depend on the agricultural sector, mainly small-scale subsistence farming, and remain vulnerable to damage from frequent natural disasters, exacerbated by the country’s widespread deforestation. While the economy has recovered in recent years, registering positive growth since 2005, four tropical storms in 2008 severely damaged the transportation infrastructure and agricultural sector.