UCC Sacred Conversations on Race

I’ve been reading a number of articles and postings regarding the United Church of Christ’s call for churches and communities to enter into a nationwide sacred conversation about race. (I invite you to consider reading some of this material yourself from the resource page that the UCC has created to support this endeavor. See info and link below.) I think this is a terrific idea.

Once again, as I indicated in my last installment, I find it’s a bit daunting for me to dare comment on essential issues when so many wise, experienced, and learned voices have already produced so much thoughtful and useful writing on the subject. Still, there is a particular angle that I do not find being addressed, and this concerns me because I believe it is one of the grounding elements of Healthy Liberal Christianity. Let me say it this way: While there are so many significant issues that we are compelled to address (and certainly race is one of them), it seems to me to be grossly unfair to send people into dialogue around thorny issues without their being equipped with appropriate tools and the skill to use them.

What I fear is missing from any dialogue around race (or any other divisive issue) is the ability to communicate well. How can we have a fruitful conversation if we believe that communication simply involves becoming more articulate so as to get our point across to others more effectively? Before we can claim mastery of communication, we must first learn to listen; and we must listen deeply enough so that we can excavate beneath the superficiality of one person’s poorly formed (and poorly informed) opinion that is pitted against the equally inadequate opinion of another person. Now, you might wonder I think this issue is central to Healthy Liberal Christianity. Extreme conservatism attempts to hold onto the status quo, and so any competing perspective that might be challenging is seen as a threat to be defended against. Unhealthy “left wing” Christianity plays out as just another version of such conservatism. Your old idea and my new idea compete to see who wins. I make use of the term “liberal” (and healthy liberal, at that) to refer to a very different quality of communication between and among differing perspectives. A true liberal wants to come to understand as many perspectives as possible. The goal is integration, learning, healing, and growth - not winning!

It disturbs me greatly to observe that the apparent purpose so much religious, political, and social communication is primarily to “win the argument.” So the only reason then to listen to your opponent’s line of thought is to refute it, not to learn from it!

Wait a minute, are all conversations then actually arguments? If we observe the quality of most communication, that’s exactly the conclusion that emerges. People tend to go into meetings and other conversations with the goal of winning others over to their previously determined position.

What if instead, our conversations were really about learning something new? What if we put more energy into learning about how our adversaries came to their understandings and conclusion, rather than working so hard to convert them to ours? Do we really believe that to learn something from our “enemy” is tantamount to failure?

Any theological position that comes without a healthy side order of humility, by which I mean a willingness to learn something new, will necessarily increase the presence of communication-killing of violence. If we are to be healthy, however, in our liberality and in our Christianity, then Jesus call for us to “love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us turns out to be more for our benefit than for the benefit of our enemy.

Good tools for communication actually exist, and they’re not even all that complicated to learn or to utilize. For example, check out Nonviolent Communication at

http://www.cnvc.org/

or at http://nvctraining.com

For now, find below some information about “sacred conversations.”

Wayne

from http://www.ucc.org/sacred-conversation/

“On Sunday, May 18, many pastors across the UCC will be preaching on race in hopes of beginning a sacred conversation, a dialogue that is needed in our pews, our homes and the hallways of power across our country. After May 18, congregations are encouraged to develop a months-long process in order to set aside the necessary time and attention needed to structure a sacred conversation about race.

The UCC is holding this national dialogue in order to foster a spirit of healing and unity in our churches and communities. While much has been said during the past few weeks about the Rev. Jeremiah A Wright Jr., this dialogue among our members is intended to be a larger conversation, one not focused directly or exclusively on the recent controversy, but one certainly influenced by it.

Sacred conversations are never easy, especially when honest talk confronts our nation's painful past and speaks directly to the injustices of the present day. Yet sacred conversations can, and often do, honor the value of diverse life experiences, requiring an openness to hear each others' viewpoints. Growth often happens when honest conversations are communicated in a respectful environment.

In the coming days and weeks, this webpage will be a repository for resources to assist with preaching preparation and worship planning for May 18. In addition, you will soon find materials to assist your congregation with how to plan church-wide and community-wide dialogues that will enable "sacred conversations" to take place.

While May 18 is an opportunity for UCC pastors to preach collectively on a common theme, it's impossible for a sacred conversation on race to be a single-day event. Instead, pastors and lay leaders are encouraged to begin thinking how the coming months can be used to appropriately plan and organize your congregation's role in facilitating a sacred conversation on race.”