At the table

I find myself enjoying the little conversation circles that form around Facebook status updates. It’s as it we’re all sitting down together for lunch conversation in a huge virtual cafeteria. I’m surprised not only at the number of responses that are elicited from the most inane statements, but also the diversity of the individuals responding. I may not know all the players when I’m sharing my wit, concern, or commentary on someone else’s status, but I know the diversity of my own friend list. And frankly, some of the people that enjoy banter under my thumbnail picture would never speak to each other in public. It’s unfortunate, but true.

At my virtual table sit people from around the world. Their worldviews are even more diverse than their geography. Political, social, and spiritual perspectives run the gamut. Some are drive safe cars, listen to whatever music is on the radio, and do what they are told. Others live aggressively, tattoo frequently, and defy categorization. People from all these corners pull up a chair and chat from time to time online, but they’d never do it in real life.

I think if one of my conservative Christian friends knew they were chatting with a homosexual person, they’d politely excuse themselves from the table. If a broadly thinking Ivy-leaguer knew he was exchanging thoughts with a fundamentalist homemaker, I fear his interest in the conversation would wane.

I wish these sorts of conversations could happen in the daylight of face to face. If we could resist the temptation to sit with our own kind long enough to have a conversation with others, something valuable might develop. Dialog might wade from the shallows to the deep end, and maybe we would begin seeing each other as people crafted in God’s image. We might not change one another’s views on being human, but we might break off some of the barbs we use for sparring.

When an agenda has a face, belligerence fades. When an orientation becomes a person we know, “those people” become neighbors. No one agrees with everything neighbors say, but believers in Christ know what we’re supposed to do to neighbors. (Love them.) If we did what Jesus taught, I think people would be a bit more interested in what He had to say. And that would make for good table talk.