ASBO Jesus put up a great image the other day and by the time I got to look there were over 100 comments. My comment was on the nature of ambiguity in communication, something that we severely miss in the church. Jesus rarely explained the parables, and left room for discussion and interpretation. Often when I leave a service I have been speaking at it takes me ages to get out the door, people want to know the answers to the questions I have raised, they want to know where I stand, what i really believe. This dialogue is really important, but people still want to pin things down. On the one hand this is part of human nature and natural, the difference comes from the level of relationship you have with those with whom you dialogue. People who have travelled with me can cope with the ambiguity and lack of answers as they understand the journey. My initial conclusion about this is because people want us communicate orthodoxy but people who have been on the journey can live with the ambiguity because they have seen something of the orthopraxis along the way.
Tightrope movies
SUNDAY PAPERS – THE SUPPLEMENT
A CO-OPERATIVE LOOK AT LIFE, MISSION, EMERGING CHURCH AND ALL THAT
My boss went to see a film the other day when i asked her about it she said she found it strange once her sister pointed out the strong religious undertone she was sure that the film had been of a particular religious moral stance which she didn’t like.
I found it funny that what convinced her she didn’t like the film had to be pointed out.
The power of words should never be over or under estimated. Our experience gives words context without an understanding of this how can we expect others to accept our ideas or concepts for them it maybe something new, something that fits or contradicts their own experience. Either way isn’t it a nugget that may help them make sense of their own experience; may make their own lack of satisfaction or pain make sense. If this is the case wouldn’t you want to pin it down, even if it was to let it go again in the next instance?
You’re a signpost potentially changing the direction of someones journey…i wonder if maybe it is ok to let someone pin it down whilst they filter it through their own understanding, tommorrow they will be faced with something that will impact their understanding of it so it’s never a static process.