Andra Moran Song: Table of Love | Braver Angels Workshops |

Friends,

I head off for surgery to repair my heal and achilles tendon on Friday. Should be 3-5 days that I'll be pretty uncomfortable, and then a long road to recovery.

I assuming I'll be dancing at my nephew's July 4 wedding, but full recovery could be 18 months.

Your prayers are welcomed!

-Liz

Seeing Christ as We Share Bread

I live in an intentional community--privately owned homes, condo style--with our rules and guidelines for interaction made by consensus of the entire community. There are two of these "cohousing" communities on our property.

The details of community living are another topic. But the relationship between the two communities is relevant to our churches. I live in the second community, invited to share the land by the first. After the excitement of working together, the battles of culture began. By the time of move-in we had significant animosity toward the first. The story I hear is that they felt the same.

After I had made broad generalizations of "them" in a meeting a neighbor pulled me aside. "I've found it works better to see individuals rather than a group."

Considering my ten years of racial justice work at that time, you'd think I wouldn't have needed to be pulled aside. But I did need it.

And taking the wise advice of my neighbor has changed everything about my attitude, and was key to problem solving every issue that came up in the following years. It turns out that even in a consensus based organization, not everyone is the same.

This is highly relevant for our "purple" congregations, and important for all white congregations. 51% of white Protestants (63% of white Catholics) who attend church at least once a month voted for our current administration. And 14% of white Evangelicals did not.

Some of us (okay, I'm talking about myself) are quick to think of "them" as monolithic: anti-immigrant, anti-woman, unsupportive of our trans siblings. Racist, crude, and chaotic. We, I, am not thinking of "them" as similar in needs or hopes or values to "us" or to me.

These people we are othering are members of our congregations. They are people we know as loving, kind, people.

Church is a place, I'd argue the place, where Christians who disagree can talk about government, laws, and a vision of the future. It is the place we can recognize each other as created in God's image. If we want our nation on a better path, if we believe we are responsible to work with God on creating God's kingdom, we must make these conversations happen in our spaces.

And for these conversations, the road to Emmaus scripture is relevant. The people on the road discussed scripture, local politics, and their feelings, without recognizing Jesus. It wasn't until they sat down and broke bread together that Jesus was revealed as amongst them. This story is well crafted--it isn't that Jesus didn't appear until they ate, he was clearly among them, clearly engaged in the conversation, and yet the could not see.

The bread created the seeing of Jesus, and, I'd argue, one another.

In classic Christian Theology, the church is now the Body of Christ. Each of us a part of God/Jesus' work in the world. Our siblings in Christ together create an image of God. The hard part is often seeing that Christ is amongst us.Of course I have a thousand arguments on how they (those who voted for this administration) are not seeing the humanity, and the divinity, of their immigrant and trans siblings. But it is clear as well that those of us on the right side of history are not seeing these siblings we disagree with. We are judging their conclusions without understanding the fears, the frustrations, and the values that underly those decisions. Without that understanding a simple change of leadership for a few years will not address the problems in our national and local politics. Without that understanding we will not progress toward God's rule in our culture or our politics.

The time has come for congregations to have hard conversations. About abortion. About trans rights. About immigration. About what we mean by following the law. About war. About the frustrations of the working class. These conversations must get beyond "I am right and you are wrong", and probe for the underlying values that lead to these viewpoints.

The key to these conversations are strong facilitators, a community of trust, asking good questions, listening more than speaking, and breaking bread together.

If your congregation is not ready for these discussions, or your reaction is "they won't come" then now is the time to get ready for those discussions. Get training for facilitators, build trust, research questions, have listening sessions on less fraught topics. Have more potlucks, with more bread breaking. Add depth to your shared food by wrestling with the hardest of scriptures.

And start noticing not what "they" are saying or doing, but rather what is going on with George and Linda and Harry. Look for which specific individuals are most able to engage. Consider how to build stronger relationships with those who are less able to engage. Start one-on-ones for building relationships and involve a wide diversity of viewpoints in the planning of the discussions. Create a team to plan your discussions.

Imagine we are on the road to Emmaus now, not yet arrived at the evening meal. What are we doing to be ready to break bread with Jesus?

Are you engaging your congregation in the conversations of these times? How are they responding? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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Braver Angels offers workshops and personal growth experiences to help people with significant differences to engage with each other.

I don't listen to a lot of music that is explicitly Christian, but I love Andra Moran. Here she is singing Table of Love as an accompaniement to home communion this Easter season.

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