Communication breakdown: and how to avoid it.

Phoenix-Metro: open letter

Communication breakdown: and how to avoid it.

If our family and community is to stand: the following mindset must be seen as 'self evident': and we must adhere to it: for the sake of ourselves,: and even more so for the sake of Jesus and the continuance and furtherance of His Kingdom.

If a theological position is true, it ought to be able to handle any and all objections and questions raised against it: at least: better than any competing positions. Just because we think a position or stance taken by us is 'so': doesn't make it so: especially if the mindset behind the thought process can be shown to be contrary to a fundamentally basic understanding of the mindset of God: Namely put God first: and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus final prayer to the Father for His church was that : 'they may be one: as we are one': John 17:22.

Believers are called to exhibit a loving unity among each other that reflects nothing less than the eternal, perfect love of the Trinity.

This does not mean that we must always agree on all things any more than the love between a husband and wife means that they must always agree. It does mean, however, that we must agree to 'love one another amidst our disagreements'.

If we only love those who agree with us, we are in fact not loving others at all. This too, is self evident.

Repeat: If we only love those who agree with us, we are in fact not loving others at all.

We are in fact only loving the (assumed) 'rightness' and perceived 'sacredness' and 'sacrosanct immovability' of our own position. Disagreeing with one another need not, and should not, be scary and divisive: as long as we keep our hearts and minds focused on Jesus.

Dialog and discussion is fundamental to the culture of our family and community at Phoenix-metro: and one that I have gone out of my way to encourage and enable as pastor: this too is self evident.

We 'prefer' the other: that means we listen to the ideas: thought processes: mindsets: and questions raised by anyone in our family and community: any direction we take after all the dialog is in: will fulfill the law: as it applies to us under the new covenant: and it is this: as handed down to us by Jesus Himself: put God first: and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Again, this doesn't mean that we should pretend that our differences don't exist, as one might expect from a dysfunctional family: and we are not dysfunctional and while I am the pastor: we never will be.

I have been part of too many dysfunctional churches and their leadership to submit myself to this type of 'standard operating procedure' anymore.

Let's do it for real: or let's not do it at all.

I am not in this for myself: or to build my own Kingdom: I am compelled by Jesus: so you won't ever find me feigning the required amount of pious posturing and fake humility to keep my job as I have seen some do who refer to themselves a 'career pastors': you can have a career as a doctor: answering Jesus call has nothing to do with a career: Paul was compelled: He never referred to his position as a career: rather, he referred to himself as the worst of dinners: or the least of the saints: these descriptions are ones that I am happy to have applied to myself.

But I am not a dysfunctional man.

And we are not going to entertain a dysfunctional approach.

No: the opposite is going to remain true: and it means that we must therefore face our differences and discuss them openly in love: Ephesians 4: 15. This is how we learn from each other and grow together in truth and in love as a family and a community.

Since it is important to fully understand and appreciate the strengths of a position before we critique it: our first objective: as always: will be to examine whether the position under discussion opposes any passages that can be found in the biblical narrative: and in the collective culture of our family and community: and decisions made within the our community must always fall within the heart and mindset of the Trinity.

Therefore, when we dialog: I would like to encourage us all to continue to adopt and maintain the stance of 'preferring' the other until all the evidence is in: stating one's position then refusing to engage in debate is not dialog: it is monolog: and we have already firmly established that monolog is not part of our culture.

Stating one's position and/or objection(s): then having them found to be 'false' position(s) after what will generally only require a cursory glance at the mindset of the Trinity and the written word of God: means that once these positions can be found and clearly be seen as false: and against the heart and mindset of Jesus: these the 'position(s)' whatever they may be: must fold.

Simple.

If folks are intransigent to the idea that their 'wants' don't match the requirements placed upon us by the summation of the law as stated by Jesus: 'love God first, and love your neighbor as yourself': our intransigence to engage in reasoned debate is, alas, no more than the spiritual equivalent of 'my dad is bigger than your dad': it's the proverbial ostrich head in the sand.

That is not a mature approach to faith: and is the opposite of preferring the other. It is childlike.

But we are not called to remain children forever: so we must not act like children but like a family and a community looking to move into well founded and grounded maturity in Jesus. That has to be the culture at work in any and all individuals for the authentic expressions of love: advocacy: support: encouragement: agreement: and a willingness to learn and a willingness to have any and all positions submit and be transformed by the renewing of our minds in Jesus: because as stated above:

If a theological position is true, it ought to be able to handle any and all objections and questions raised against it: at least: better than any competing positions. Just because we think a position or stance taken by us is 'so': doesn't make it so: especially if the mindset behind the thought process can be shown to be contrary to a fundamentally basic understanding of the mindset of God: Namely put God first: and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Whenever we are used to hearing only one side of a story, it is easy to read our beliefs into the evidence, as we perceive it, rather than let the evidence speak for itself:

Everything must either stand or fall against the test of the biblical narrative, and of our family and communal discussions and decisions: all made within the summation of the law: as presented to us by Jesus: and as seen in practice by the new testament narrative: the acts of the apostles: and the early church.

If we don't love and dialog like this: we will fail: and I have no intention of letting a failure to dialog: or an intransigent posture hold any sway whatsoever within our community.

I would not be doing my job of shepherd if I did so. Jesus wasn't 'nice': and alas, 'playing nice' has somehow become part and parcel of what is taken to be christian in this day and age.

The 'passive-aggressive fake smile sunday go to meeting modus operandi and demeanor' will not become the norm in our community: I will not let it: Sometimes love has a tough side to it:

Because believers are called to exhibit a loving unity among each other that reflects nothing less than the eternal, perfect love of the Trinity.

mike: phoenix-metro community church.

I would like to thank Gregory Boyd for some thoughtful input into the above.