Dense Mediums
“TOBY: It’s called the science of listener attention. We did repetition, we did floating opposites
and now you end with the one that’s not like the others. Ready?…
SACHS: God, Toby… Wouldn’t it be great if there was someone around here with communication skills who could go in there and tell them that?” - The West Wing: Somebody’s Going To Emergency, Somebody’s Going To Jail
I have heard some bad sermon’s lately. No, let me correct myself, I have heard some bad preaching lately. You know what I mean, no matter how hard you try to listen, no matter how good the stuff they are saying is, you just can’t. There is something so completely dense about the medium they have created that, contrary to the speaker’s best efforts and the listener’s best intentions, nothing is getting through.
I have watched a lot of West Wing lately. Two seasons in fact and one thing that has come across to me over and over again is how well it is written and how well it is delivered. The show does not separate these two things and even better the content of the show illustrates these things. People are complex and groups of people more so, yet at the same time there is an art and science to communicating with them, that you would do well to master.
The question I have often asked myself though is, “Are you manipulating them?” You know what I am talking about; we have all done it before. Acted or said something in such away to produce the outcome we are looking for. Does the intention matter? If I am doing it for God’s glory nudging someone in the right direction cannot hurt, can it? I think this is a healthy debate that should never be stopped.
17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” - NIV
I like this passage, I like it a lot, it places my feet back on the ground when my thoughts seek to set me adrift. I have often used this as an excuse to be lazy though. I don’t bother editing my work as heavily as I should because it is the cross’s power right? I do not practise my delivery or wonder whether the import of my words would sit more heavily on their hearts if I changed that word.
What we say matters and how we say it matters more. I think we should be careful not to add the latest pop culture wisdom to our work because the wisdom of man has been made foolish in God’s sight. Yet at the same time I do not think the latest information on children’s retention time in class should be ignored. We do not speak with words of human wisdom but we do not also speak with words that people will not hear. I believe wholeheartedly God can use the worst sermon in the world to save and in fact does. I believe God can use the most poorly written book to bring people back to him and does. That doesn’t mean I think he should be forced to.
Christ was sent as the propitiation for your sins, so that you may live in relation with a loving triune God. As Sachs say though “God, Toby… Wouldn’t it be great if there was someone around here with communication skills who could go in there and tell them that?””
