Today I cleaned out two cars which have become too expensive to keep going with a warrant of fitness. They are to be sold for car parts. They really don't owe us anything, particularly the little Fiat. It was my wife's car and has provided transport for young people, older folks and food for drop-in centre and Habitat for Humanity building sites. Both will be picked up by their new owner in the next day or two.
My Mountain and fitness
Technique verses love.
My mind wandered on to this subject today. When I was at theological college we had homiletics classes, that is learning how to preach. In our third year we got to preach to each other and invited guests. We had one guy preach one night, it was a work of art. His voice was not monotone, he raised his voice, he lowered it to a whisper. He used silences and pauses to give impact. He sped up and he slowed down. He gestured flamboyantly. ... We had to give feed back and at first we struggled. It was an eloquent presentation but somehow it missed the mark. He was so concentrating on his technique he lost that sense of connectedness and rapport with his audience. He was not communicating. He could have been doing it in front of a mirror. He wasn't "loving" us as his congregation.
Over the years I have heard many people read the scriptures in Church. There have been a few who have had elocution lessons. They will read with all sorts of correct expression. They have spoken clearly. They have emphasized words correctly. They have paused, projected their voices and done everything right. ... but often this has been distracting rather than adding to the communication. Then I have heard bad readers who, because of their "couldn't care less" attitude have almost been blasphemous as they have dawdled their way through their reading. Then I have heard people who have believed the message they were reading and had a deep loving passion to pass it on. Their technique may not have been perfect but as they have read they have somehow, passed on love.... in the way they have read they have loved the message and loved the congregation. There is a difference.
I recall watching a colleague working with people. this person had all sorts of creative things to get the people involved in. They had skills to work with these people. But somehow I had an uneasy feeling. Over the weeks they had to keep asking me the names of the people they were working with? Why? .... Quite simply they were not forgetting themselves and loving the people. They were rapt up in their techniques.
A friend had some issues he needed a counsellor for. He told me of one he tried. He said of the counsellor that he may have asked all the right questions, but "He just didn't seem interested in me. It felt like he just wanted to get through the session."
I have been involved in training for trauma debrief groups and for running groups. As I have thought about it and led groups, I keep finding that it all depends on my willingness to give myself to the people involved in listening and sharing. The times I am distracted or too self absorbed to care, go badly. It depends on LOVE, listening, questioning and attending with a genuine love.
Love of technique, skill, methods can never replace love for people.
Thats what I have been stewing on as I have enjoyed my day off.
1 comment:
Yep. Be there, now.
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