We've forgotten how to have conversation. That's the conclusion I came to earlier this year when I read an article from the Atlantic about "the dying art of conversation." Staff writer Megan Garber followed psychologist and professor Sherry Turkle into the field as she researched an upcoming book: Reclaiming Conversation. Turkle has not only spent hours talking with people about conversations, but she has eavesdropped on several as well. As you may guess, she bemoans how our dependence on technology for connection has led us to do more "talking at each other rather than with each other."  She thinks that we should limit our device use in "sacred spaces" like the dinner table and also that we should look each other in the eyes as we talk. I have to say that I agree. I mulled over this paragraph from the article:

But the messiness [of conversations] is what allows for true exchange. It gives participants the time--and, just as important, the permission--to think and react and glean insights. "You can't always tell, in a conversation, when the interesting bit is going to come," Turkle says, "It's like dancing: slow, slow, quick-quick, slow. You know? It seems boring, but all of a sudden there's something, and whoa." Occasional dullness, in other words, is to be not only expected, but celebrated.

This article on conversation caused me to think about what some have called "spiritual conversation." For some this term is very artificial and unnatural, as is another word associated with it: evangelism. Why? For some, the attempt to steer talk toward Jesus is more akin to giving a sales pitch to an uninterested friend than it is akin to the kind of conversation Turkle was studying. For others the term is a watered down word for "evangelism" and they don't see a need to re-label it. Are the terms "spiritual conversation" and "evangelism" bad or outdated? I don't think so, but you should know that the business world has co-opted the term "evangelist" for itself. It is used to describe "change agents" who have an "intangible fire" and who "nail down the first couple of flagship customers" (so says this article from Fast Company). Is that what God means for us to be? For some the prospect is scary.

Of course, it was Christianity that first co-opted the term "evangelism" from the Greek language. You may have heard that euangelion more literally means "good news" but do you know its origin? Before the technology that keeps us from conversation was invented, the only way to receive royal news was from a herald of the royal family. News of Caesar's household was published throughout the land via messengers who shouted the "good news" in public for all to hear. This was especially true for royal births, so it makes sense that the message that the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem was heralded by believers as euangelion. Good news indeed! (And how much better the news when He had conquered death by being risen from the dead!)

Paul helps us understand the meaning of "spiritual" when he reminds the Corinthians that spiritual things are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:13-14). The first time I read this in the Bible, I was so confused that I wondered if Paul was talking about ghosts. It's not that kind of "spiritual." Think of it in terms of Wi-Fi. There are all kinds of videos, music, and emails in the air flying through my home, but I can only see them on a device that can receive and understand a Wi-Fi signal. So it is with spiritual things. Only someone who has the Holy Spirit at work in them can receive and understand spiritual things. Suddenly the term "spiritual conversation" has new meaning for me when I consider Paul. It's much less about steering a conversation to turn it into a sales pitch and it is much more like an opportunity to converse with someone and see if God has been working on them so they may be able receive and understand the good news found on His network.

Face-to-face conversation is messy, but as Turkle is proving by her research, this messiness is what allows for a true exchange. That's nothing like any sales pitch I've ever heard. There is no exchange in a sales pitch. There is no conversation in it. Maybe for Christians who have been inundated with method after method for "evangelism" and "spiritual conversation"  there is really only one goal--to have no difference between our "spiritual conversation" and our "plain ol' conversation." What if we were brave enough to simply enter into the messiness and occasional dullness of conversation, in the exchange, or in the dance (as Turkle described it), in order that the good news about Jesus comes naturally through our back and forth words with others? Let's remember how to have good conversation again, and let's remember the One worth talking about.