Real Clear Truth

A professor I know in Wisconsin has started a project for Christians to engage in dialogs on topics outside the normal range of issues typically discussed in churches. Her website describes it this way:

The GROUNDINGS PROJECT seeks to stimulate dialog, inspiration and action among Christian artists as we walk together in an authentic pursuit of Christ and our creative calling. We look for opportunities to engage the church and the artist in an exploration of the deep and sometimes difficult issues of our times at the vibrant juncture(s) of art, faith and culture.

The first topic that she will tackle during a retreat this summer called, ON EARTH, will be on the issue of the global environment, or as she puts it:

As we discuss our environmental future as a global community, there is an growing discussion and challenge within the Church to active engagement. This week will allow individuals of creativity and faith to reflect on the beauty as well as the responsibility for caring for creation.

I was especially intrigued by how she desires to create an authentic dialog among people with differing views. Again, she puts it this way:

I have felt God telling me not to be afraid of the complexity facing us today within the world, that He will show me and the rest of us how to be “in the world but not of it”. I really feel He is encouraging me to talk about the seemingly untalkable….even though we seem to talk about it all the time. Issues like the environment or the issue of war…these are things we essentially have stopped talking about unless we are pretty sure everyone in the room agrees with us or we get our anger stirred and jump into our monlogue of conviction and opinion. I just feel He is guiding me to allow a discussion and allow people who have different opinions in the room and enter a dialog….not a compromise and not a conversion monologue but a simple dialog…and to trust Him that His truth will be revealed.

I really love this idea of a simple dialog. It can be so difficult to dialog without causing offense. And yet we grow so much when we pause to truly hear what others are saying. Growth doesn’t happen by giving up what we believe. Growth happens when we see the differing viewpoints of others who care just as much as we do.

Dialog requires more than just taking time to listen. Dialog also requires taking the time to form how to express one’s differences. It is not enough to say that a given discussion raises red flags. One must probe what those flags are, what they mean and why they are significant. And then pause to see that the intent of the person who raised the flag was not as you initially thought.

Dialog should not be used to impose or demand. Dialog should be used to understand and clarify each person’s heart on an issue. Dialog should be our opportunity to hear what others have found of value and for us to share what we have found of value. Dialog should be seen as a gift that helps us see what we couldn’t see on our own.

Dialog is for those willing to be open and vulnerable, but also willing to challenge orthodoxy and group think. Dialog is for those willing to open the windows of their box and hear the sounds of all that is wild outside. Dialog is for those willing to have their foundations shaken, and willing to prod the foundations of others.

A dialog is not a debate. There are no losers in a dialog. Everybody has the opportunity to win — and will win — as long as they dialog in love.

I also like the idea of people of faith dialoging. Is it possible for Christians to take a few minutes to seek God and ask Him to reveal things that could help us truly hear from each other? Maybe instead of thinking about how to counter what someone else says, we can ask God how we can encourage that person. Or maybe we could ask God to show something about how He made that person we disagree with unique. Or maybe we could ask God what He would want us to hear from that person that we have never really considered before.

I believe that God is well able to quickly unblock misconceptions and misunderstandings that have grown up in our lives over many years.

What do you think?

P.S. As part of her retreat this summer she will be making a roadtrip out to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s house called “Taliesin”. On the Taliesin Preservation website they say that Wright, “learned that people are most content and happy when they live in harmony with nature rather than imposing their will upon it”. Take a look at this photo of Taliesin and see if you can catch what Wright might have been saying…