Dialogical

So, I had my first opportunity to "preach." I put it in those terms because the sermon here is what is called "dialogical" or it happens as a dialogue. This is a style of teaching that you will find in books such as Reading the Bible With the Damned and The Academy of the Poor. To put it plainly, it functions as a bible study dialogue instead of a sermon monologue. I can work with that - the thing most challenging to me is the role of the "leader" is to facilitate engagement with the passage, not primarily to introduce ideas. The importance of this approach is significant:

• I have tended to read the Bible with people like myself looking for the "right answer" or to lead people to the "right answer." This approach disempowers people who have not been trained by the academy or the church and creates a culture that seeks someone in power to mediate the text rather than allowing and trusting the Spirit of Jesus to teach us. So the dialogical approach helps to give voice to those who have had no voice.
• Also, in reading the Bible the way I have, I have not humbled myself or opened myself to what the Spirit may say to me through people who have a different context or experience than I do. So the dialogical approach also says that I have much to learn from the poor and people on the margins that the lens of my small experience and context will not have taught me.

Walking that out creates a tension for me as I discover the gospel that is good news to the poor and still feel that there is a need or space for a more classical teaching. Ithink it is important to understand our contexts and to know that we engage the Bible through those lenses, but also to recognize that our experiences and contexts don't necessarily yield truth. There is my tension!

Anyway, it was a good experience. I worked with Salvio to translate my questions for the Spanish service - now that was challenging!