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Civility in Public Discourse

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God’s Love is not limited by Legal Status

Part 5 in the Seeing Beyond the Immigration Rhetoric series.


I met Jorge (name changed) at the Newton Correctional Facility, where my husband and I planted a church 8 years ago. Jorge came to the United States from Guatemala. Unfortunately, Jorge’s life took a turn for the worse and he ended up in prison.

An Election Budget, Wild Times, and a Call to Prayer

Political pundits and partisans often use the annual budget announcement as an opportunity to evaluate a government – to sing its virtues or to decry its follies. Many civil society organizations, like the Christian Reformed Centre for Public Dialogue and our partners, also watch the budget announcement closely to evaluate progress on justice priorities. Budgets are moral documents, after all, revealing the priorities of our nation and our leaders.

From Soundbites to Discernment

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat—there are a plethora of social media platforms used by stay-at-home moms and celebrities, private citizens and elected officials alike to communicate opinions, beliefs, statements, facts, untruths, popular myths, and more. Then we have regular news sources apart from social media including BBC, CNN, Fox News, CBS, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Blaze—an amalgam of news sources with talking heads and op-ed pieces that launch information, news stories, and soundbites endlessly our way.

#CRClistens: 9 Tips for Entering & Sticking with Tough Dialogue

Often the toughest conversations offer the most important learning. Sometimes the conversations we work hardest to avoid, we most need to enter. Tough conversations can be hard to navigate and risky. So how do we “go there” in a healthy way?

Below are some tips for entering and staying with tough dialogue, drawn from 20 years of work in Dialogue Education. Tough dialogue ought not be feared, but can bear gifts to those who dare the journey. Which of these tips best offers a way for you to stay longer in tough dialogue?

#CRClistens: Why We Need Robert's Rules

Ultimately within discussion and debate a person's goal is to get to the place where they can say of their challenger "we're talking the same language.". Two parties may disagree ultimately, yet there can be grace in the midst of a conversation because people are wrestling within the same parameters.

#CRClistens: The Problem with All or Nothing

Writing on dialogue and respect for the "other side" has its challenges. As much as I’d like to think I’m adaptable, I bring biases to a task like this. Like any biases, mine are formed by experience – my professional interest and personal passion is to offer a Christian vision of hope and justice in the diverse and complex world of public policy and citizenship. Long experience and hard lessons in that game have formed these basic bents:
• we peer through a glass darkly;
• we are called to faithfulness and not necessarily success; and

#CRClistens: Learning to be Gospel People

A number of years ago, a group of us asked our Indigenous elders about their often demonstrated dedication and faithfulness, “How did you do this? How do you do this?” We struggled to get people to attend meetings and even worship, much less to get involved in leadership. For our own work as leaders, we were overwhelmed by the alternating emotion of our meetings, veering from intense mediocrity and boredom to frustrated anger and conflict.

#CRClistens: Dialogue as a Hopeful Practice

I’m grateful to have been invited to contribute to this series on “How to stay in conversation with the ‘Other Side’.” As our congregations in the CRC become increasingly diverse, this is an essential question. Having been involved in dialogue, in many different contexts, at the intersection of faith and sexuality and the realities of our LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex) siblings in Christ for the last 14 years, I have been able to observe helpful and effective postures and values in the pursuit of mutual understanding and unity.

#CRClistens: 3 Guidelines for Dialogue on Social Media

When you throw verses at someone and tell them that their role in the church is not ‘true to scripture,’ what you are saying is, “Nope, God is not calling you to do what you think you are being called to do or be who you think God is calling you to be.” Scripture should be our guide. Absolutely. As you are guided by Scripture, be aware that the “cost” of a certain interpretation of Scripture may be much higher for someone else than it is for you.

#CRClistens: 3 Key Insights for Having Difficult, Honest Conversations

A great song by African-American composer V. Michael McKay called “Koinonia,” goes like this: 

How can I say that I love the Lord,

whom I’ve never ever seen before,

and forget to say that I love the one

whom I walk beside each and every day?

How can I look upon your face

and ignore God’s love—you I must embrace! 

You’re my brother, you’re my sister,

and I love you with the love of my Lord.

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