Conversations

I have been having some interesting real life conversation with people about God, faith, humans and such. I enjoy these more than talking about hobbies, random trivia or gossiping. I wish more people felt comfortable talking about their spiritual beliefs (or lack there of) I feel frustrated by only getting to know people on the surface level. Sometimes lame goofy pointless conversation can be fun, but I also want to get to know people on a deeper level. A lot of people act like you are speaking Ancient Sumerian if you talk to them about anything deep.

But I admit I am somtimes afraid of broaching deeper topics with others. I am a people pleaser and I don't want to make others feel uncomfortable. I think growing up in the church gives one an advantage in being about to speak about deeper things, because you grow up being used to it. Of course there are plenty of shallow people in the church too, but Sabbath School, camps, academy and other places give people the opportunity to more naturally speak about spirituality.

I was talking to a friend at work about spirituality once and after telling her how my husband and I talk about such things all the time, she was surprised, saying that she and her husband rarely discussed such things.

To me marriage is the most spiritual relationship you can have on earth, and I couldn't imagine not talking about spiritual subjects with my husband.

But as someone I respect pointed out in Sabbath School, we should have more than just deep relationships with our family. It's important to have friends to talk about such things with. The more people who give me their perspective the more balanced view I have of my self and my opinions.

But as we talked about in Sabbath School (this was a really good class btw) the American culture of individualism makes it difficult to connect with others on a deeper level. I've also notices that Americans always have to have a front. They have a hard time being genuinely friendly with each other.

We talked in Sabbath School about how this American individualism creates a problem in building the kind of Church community we are supposed to have. In an "everyone fends for themselves" culture how to do build a community where we all look out for each other.?

Comments

laurettabear said…
I feel like you're reading my mind on this one. I so long to form deeper relationships with those around me, but it's like a "no no" in our culture. Paul especially talks about how it is so important for a church family to support, encourage and challenge each other to grow spiritually. How can I do that if those around me won't open up? How can I get excited with them? Where do they need encouragement? And challenging them to grow...according to our culture other's weakness aren't my business, and I'm so afraid of offending them. And how are people supposed to offer me support, encouragement and challenge me if they don't know much about me at all? Isn't that what the church is for anyway? I often feel like church is a service. By going to church we fulfill social expectations - we go through the motions. It seems that something important - true family and community is missing.
July 1, 2007 at 3:20 PM
Ann said…
We used to have a Bible study at our house for many years. It really helped to form a sense of connection and community. Collegedale Church hired a small groups pastor to help foster the growth of small groups within the Church. We can't just hope for communities to grow. We have to go out and build them. I am a very shy person and it hasn't always been easy for me to take that first step but it has always been rewarding when I have done so.
July 1, 2007 at 5:05 PM
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