Conversations in Graced Communities
By Frances Forde Plude
We have proposed some reflections about discourse – conversations within groups and with the wider society. Of course, our columns offer perspectives; we do not presume to offer complete answers.
In the book Fullness of Faith: The Public Significance of Theology (Paulist), two priest-brothers Michael and Kenneth Himes make statements about the theology of grace that moved me deeply. “If everything which exists is rooted in the gracious self-communication of God, grasping anything in its depth, in the foundations of its being, in the full conditions of its actuality, is the discovery of grace.” And “sacraments are not intrusions into the secular world; they are points at which the depth of the secular is uncovered and revealed as grounded in grace.”
Research offers rich perspectives about group and public communication, which is often the arena for our grace-filled encounters. For example, we know there is a tendency in close-knit groups (local churches) to suspend critical thinking and make inferior decisions. We have seen groups are healthier when stakeholders participate in the discussion/decision process. We know most people achieve coherence through narratives. We make judgments about whether stories (news stories, advertising stories, dramas) have a convincing coherence. Communication scholars have documented that cultural variations within groups often lead to anxiety and this must be dealt with constructively. Deborah Tannen has shown that male-female conversation is literally cross-cultural; they are distinctly different. “Men’s report-talk focuses on status and independence. Women’s rapport-talk seeks human connection.”
As if all this were not challenging enough there is a new factor: information overload.
In his thoughtful books Data Smog and The End of Patience, David Shenk reports that “too much information” refers to the flow of facts that outpace our ability to absorb them and sort them out. We are losing the information management challenge, which he calls “information obesity.”
Research shows some scary results. Information overload creates stress (“noise”) in our lives. It can cause confusion, restlessness, boredom, distraction called Attention Deficit Disorder. It sometimes creates impaired judgment and overconfidence; we think more data make us smarter, but often we have not taken the time to analyze it thoughtfully.
All this leads me to cherish quiet time for reflection and contemplative (wordless!) prayer.