140 characters. The short pithy and snarky comment on Facebook that shows how witty you are. The constant name calling, and you are in this “camp” or that “camp.” This is the world that we find ourselves and Christians are not off the hook. Add to this a pandemic that causes decision makers to be puzzled and confused and divisive rhetoric everywhere from politicians of every stripe and it’s downright chaotic. Finally, you couple all of this with the relative death of in person extended conversation and you find yourself living in 21st century America.

The home of the infamous “Round Table”. (Picture courtesy of the Quad City Times.)

A Story

If I may (hey it’s my blog after all so I guess it’s okay), I would like to share a coming of age story from my life. I grew up in a medium sized Midwest town in Iowa (Davenport). A growing metropolis it was not but it’s where I call home and I’m proud of where I grew up. As I turned seven or eight a new tradition started. Every Saturday morning my Dad would wake up me and my brother and we would head to a local hole in the wall breakfast spot called Mary Sue’s. We would go in and eat breakfast with a regular group of men affectionately referred to as the “Round Table” (we literally ate at a round table). It was at this round table that I was introduced to what I would call “long form conversation”. The morning news was playing on a small TV in the corner and there were no smart phones to be seen anywhere (mainly because they hadn’t come into existence yet).

This round table exposed me to all kinds of new thoughts on life. I grew up going to a Christian school and church so the people that I spent the most time around were Christians. Here at the round table I was exposed to a lot of different thoughts and ideas. Saturday conversations ran from talking about sports depending on the season, events in the city, politics, practical life matters, hunting, fishing, and even religion. It was in this environment that I was forced to think and argue for myself week after week. At eight I wasn’t arguing the finer points of foreign policy and the impact on the United States but I was learning how to defend my love of the St. Louis Cardinals in an area that was mostly Chicago Cubs fans. It was through the help of men I knew as Don the Barber (shockingly he was a barber at a shop just down the street) and my dad’s closest hunting buddy “Honda”.

As I grew up I started to intern for my dad at his insurance office and that meant the Saturday breakfasts would turn into almost daily breakfast starts to the morning with my dad. This meant even sharper conversations and the men at that round table became increasingly different. I distinctly remember for the first time ever sitting at that round table to postal carrier who was not shy about claiming to be an avowed Democrat. The conversations were great and sometimes intense but one thing that I learned is that they were always respectful. They didn’t demean each other for having different viewpoints and it wasn’t weird to be a Christian even if some of them weren’t. It wasn’t even frowned upon as I would share the things that I was learning at church or school or when I invited some of the to come to something special that I was doing at either place. Those men may not have believed in Christ (which was heartbreaking for a boy and now a man who loved them so dearly) but they never made me feel little or dumb for my faith.

My Concern

The reason why I share this story is that I’m concerned that Christians are losing the ability to have meaningful conversations with those they disagree with in a productive way. I think that in the society around us we are losing the ability to have detailed, in depth, nuanced conversation. I never knew how much I respected the Apostle Paul beyond being a Biblical author until I read about his engagement with skeptics and thinkers on Mars Hill in Acts 17. Paul was able to dialogue with people in the city of Athens respectfully while pointing out their error and calling on them to respond by putting their faith in Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins.

My Hope

I hope that Christians can jettison the cultural moment and strike out in the direction of engagement with the people around them in extended conversation that respects them while warning them of the dangers that come from living for themselves. I hope Christian parents will do what mine did and not shelter them from the world but find the spaces where they can navigate it together. You see my dad was not content to merely let us hear and exchange ideas at the round table. Many times we would get in the truck after breakfast and he would expose the dangers of some of the things that we had heard. He also managed to do this without sounding like a professor or pastor. Looking back on it now, he was incredibly sneaky.

Christian let’s not be afraid to run into the fray and engage with the people around us. Let’s not limit our interaction on dissenting opinion to social media and maybe take a break and seek out ways to have more meaningful conversation in person. Maybe that means inviting someone over to dinner and having informed discussions or inviting someone out for a cup of coffee or maybe, just maybe you can find your own round table to have breakfast and lively conversation.