Today has been a day of conversations; good conversations about technology, relevance, and keeping the threads livable between communities and age groups. It was impressed enough in these conversations that it should be noted that there is a legitimate fear amongst communities and their spiritual leaders that the rise of communication technologies in mobile and web would break not just those relationships, but the conversations between them.

There are only so many ways to allay the fears expressed. And I do so with care. Any change is scary. And specifically change that seems to uproot the very foundations of various institutions.

Picture the arguments for and against books within learning communities after the advent of the printing press. Where rhetoric was the accepted means of displaying what you’ve learned and translating that learning towards other audiences, now you simply needed to be able to write and have a means of distributing. The person or group with the better distribution systems would make the most noise, granting the most eyes, and therefore making their abilities to engage in speaking much easier (the audience was primed for their speaking and character).

The same types of challenges are happening now, but its key to understand that the conversation still has to remain. We are indeed instantly (and constantly) connected with one another in a form that very much mirrors the ability of God to speak to us (we use radio waves, He uses the Spirit). And this is good; we are accessible to one another.

Thing is, we also have to be transparent with one another. A person that I was speaking with today brought up the challenge of perception when it came to the virtual domain. His point was that if we did engage in these virtual relationships too often, or deeply enough, that our perception of the person might be more like our imagination of the person, rather than the reality of whom they are. I referenced the friendship that I have with one brother which has been totally virtual – and the standing question was whether we would think of another differently if the physical barrier (distance) was broached. I was tempted to say yes, but had to agree, despite the honestly of the fellowship that I have with my brother, we haven’t been face to face with one another. That’s a different challenge to communities and relationships today.

Which brings me back to maturity of the conversation. While its easier to accept person on a glance, it is in a conversation that we find the ideals and intents of people. Engaging within a conversation entails that we not just be present, but that we are actively listening to their words and actions. And then we respond in kind, being transparent to the environment that has been set for us.

I’m reminded of when Jesus sent out disciples and told them that there would be places where they would be heard and places where they would not. These places where they’d be able to keep and build a conversation, and therefore a brother; and those places where the people would not have such a fellowship and they were to “remove the dust from their sandals” as a mark against that community.

Now, I don’t think that we are called to be conversational adversaries with one another. Paul expounds on this “go out and converse” point when he says that we should do our best to live at peace with all people. But, to do so, we have to be willing to go to them and create a conversation. And within that conversation we’ll learn a bit about them, a bit more about us, and end up sharing life in such a way that should call into the relationship the Spirit that binds us.

In the conversations today, I hear a fear that the structures that we are used are being challenged, and its uncomfortable. I also heard of the wonderment and amazement of the reach that is literally at our fingertips. The challenge is blending the removal of that fear, with the energy of the opportunity. The opportunity is to create a conversation with another person, such that they see not the institution, but the word of the Spirit that binds us to one another, empowering the hearts for an eternal fellowship with the Father.