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You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen
You could have flown away
A singing bird in an open cage
Who will only fly, only fly for freedom
...Home ... hard to know what it is if you've never had one
Home ... I can't say where it is but I know I'm going home
That's where the hurt is
I know it aches
How your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk onU2, Walk On
For the greater part of my Christian journey, I've had very few people to share these thoughts with. Few seem interested in serious dialogue about biblical and theological matters. After awhile, I began to think that all of this was just a sentimental pipe dream on my part.
If change is to come, it will come from the margins ... It was the desert, not the temple, that gave us the prophets. (Wendell Berry)
"Those who are afraid of the future cling to past traditions. Those who anticipate the future use the past as a starting point for the new." (Charles Ringma, Resist the Powers with Jacques Ellul)
The sad reality is neither good intention nor smart strategy will change a heart, let alone a church. But, this hope of church in malleable motion should remind us of Christ's desire and ability to renew our own faith. ... Too often, the very people who see the need for church to transform refuse to welcome change into their own hearts.
Without constant revolution, a church is destined to die. But, the moment that zeal for authentic Christianity returns, at the point of new connection to the miracle of grace, the dreams written off as "childish" will flood our hearts with sudden healing. As children of God, we can set aside our hurts, methods and stereotypes.
J. Stephen Jorge, "When A Church Needs Change"
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... The prophet is a troublesome ... voice, HATED by the church's leaders and out of favor with the church's members. Like a wild, ragged, unkempt coyote scenting from afar the smell of carrion, like a raven always croaking out the same cry, like a ... wolf howling on the mountain top, the prophet travels throughout the church ... followed by suspicion and hatred ... He is ... a man who sees with a troubled heart - but with clear eyes - the compromises the church is making with the world today, and the consequences that will accrue to it tomorrow ... as a result. Like all truthtellers who disturb the slumbering majority and who unsettle the peace of the church's leadership, he is avoided like a leper, persecuted like an enemy and those with a reputation in the church for 'being somebody' detest him. The prophet is an accuser, but today's Christians do not want to admit their guilt. He is an intercessor, but Christians do not want to be shown their error ... He is an announcer, but Christians do not want to hear ... Giovanni Papine |
I understand that attempting to challenge deep-seated traditions and cherished beliefs will often be met with much resistance and fear. Often, hurt and division are the inevitable result. Yet it bothers me deeply that Christians are unwilling to discuss areas of disagreement with an open mind. How can we hope to achieve consensus and avoid conflict if we aren't willing to invest the time and energy to work out our differences together? Charles Ringma rightly notes that "In the desire to make the church safe, Christians have eliminated the critic and the prophet. As a consequence, the church is bland and irrelevant. ... Change is always necessary lest things stagnate. Therefore, the power of the question lies in its ability to move us beyond the present into new ways of being and acting." (Resist the Powers with Jacques Ellul)
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share...
And no one dare
Disturb the sound of silence.Simon & Garfunkel, Sound of Silence
My observation is that most Christians are too busy to take (make) the time to seriously interact with each other, and with God's Word. They don't want to go through the lengthy and tiring process of wrestling with a text or subject matter in order to arrive at a better understanding. Some feel there is no need for such a pursuit; they're indifferent to this view or that. Perhaps some think they can figure it all out on their own.
How much longer can we and our communities prosper with so little warmth and trust? What are the chances of vocal warming?
John Locke, The De-Voicing of America: Why We Don't Talk to Each Other Anymore
Dialogue ... is about a shared inquiry, a way of thinking and reflecting together. ... Dialogue is a living experience of inquiry within and between people.
... dialogue is a conversation in which people think together in relationship. Thinking together implies that you no longer take your own position as final. You relax your grip on certainty and listen to possibilities that result simply from being in a relationship with others - possibilities that might not otherwise have occured.
William Isaacs, Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, pp. 9,19.
The greatest barrier to good conversation is that as a culture we're losing the capacity to listen. We're too busy. We're too certain of our own views. We just keep rushing past each other. ... [an] important element of conversation is a willingness to be disturbed, to allow our beliefs to be challenged by what others think.
Margaret Wheatley, "The Power of Talk", Utne, Jul/Aug 2002; excerpted from her book Turning to One Another.
