A Lost Art

I have been very lax at writing my blog this week. I will chalk that up to my anniversary and some travel time - it surely could not be laziness!

I have been reflecting on the value of conversation recently. This week has been full of conversations around the table, in the living room, or at the restaurant. I notice we tend to do too little of that in Fresno. We stand around and talk, but we rarely visit in one another's homes or go out with friends to a restaurant together just to have a friendly conversation. Here's my week so far:

1. Spent Monday night with friends from New Albany. Had a cookout together with about 12 people. Spent several hours (about 4) talking - getting our lives up to date.
2. Spent Tuesday night at a wonderful restaurant in Indianapolis dining out for our anniversary with Jonathan and Maria. We then met Joel and Shafali at another restaurant for dessert (Joel had a class that night and couldn't make the dinner). All in all, we spent about 4-5 hours together.
3. Wednesday night went to the 12:01 showing of "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" with 9 other friends. Cheered when Yoda went off on the Sith.
4. Thursday night we all went over to Kevin and Kristi's house for dinner. Ron and Kathy (Kevin's parents) are there for the month and she fixed tacos for everyone. We went over about 6:00 and left after 11:00. We laughed and had a blast catching up on the past and sharing about our lives.
5. Tonight (Friday night) we will go over to the Fine Arts Center and hear Joel in concert as he performs his Senior Recital.

I like to be involved with people. Maybe one of the most refreshing things about the Sabbatical so far has been the renewed enjoyment of being with others. In ministry, you spend so much time with others but are rarely "off the clock" as pastor. You yearn for time when you can just be with one another without having to do business. I saw that in action a few days ago when I went golfing with Ron Duncan. I have served on the Ministries Council with Ron and now share in his ministry as the General Director for Church of God Ministries. I urged him to go golfing with me as a way of getting away from his responsibilities. But sure enough, we hadn't played more than a few holes when I was bringing up Ministry Council business. Fortunately, he didn't respond to it and I caught what a foolish thing I was doing and quickly changed the subject (back to my terrible golf game, I'm sure). He needed to spend time away from work and just in fellowship together. So did I. It's amazing how difficult it can be to just share together without an agenda. Thank God we found a way. And thank you, God, for reminding me that there are other things to talk about other than "business".

My advice? Go out and spend some time with someone talking and getting to know them better. Do it over a meal. Go over someone's home. Avoid going to a movie (unless you plan to go out before or after the film). Play a game, eat a meal together, or do something that allows you to enjoy some conversation. Conversation shouldn't become a lost art.