Dialogue and Blood on Independence Day

Dialogue is to love, what blood is to the body. When the flow of blood stops, the body dies. When dialogue stops, love dies and resentment and hate are born. But dialogue can restore a dead relationship. Indeed this is the miracle of dialogue: it can bring relationship into being, and it can bring into being once again a relationship that had died.
From The Miracle of Dialogue by Reuel Howe

As we observe another anniversary of the independence of the United States, we fly, wear, maybe sing about, and decorate cakes or Jello desserts in the familiar red, white, and blue. On this holiday, plenty of fun may ensue (unless you work in an ED or urgent care clinic).

Hefty conversations--and even debates and elevated blood pressure--might develop if American culture, lifestyles, and politics come under discussion. As Howe observed, our communication can induce bloodshed or renewal.

Christian communications professor Tim Muehlhoff offers up a practical means of navigating difficult conversations. If this a skill you’re keen to refine, check out more about Muehlhoff’s book I Beg to Differ (IVP) here.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; the people he chose for his inheritance.
Psalm 33:12 (NIV)

Peruse NCF’s resources for outreach and evangelism.

 

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