siloing
The 20th century American social critic William Stringfellow identified Advent as the “Penitential Season.” I think the modern church thinks of Lent, not Advent, as the season of repentance, but mostly modern man ignores the idea of repentance at all. If, in preparation for Jesus’ first advent, John the Baptist was willing to die to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is here,” repentance is certainly worth looking at as we wait and watch for Christ’s second advent.
A word that has entered the business vernacular is “siloing”. It refers to different teams in a particular business refusing to share information with one another. Today I think we are all becoming guilty of siloing, by virtue of the way we get information, keeping to our own little philosophical or political niche. Social media even curates the things we read by moving things to the top of our “feeds” based on algorithms on what posts we have interacted with before. In such a climate, active listening becomes an act of repentance. What do I mean by that?
It isn’t necessary that we always agree. As a matter of fact, it is more necessary that we don’t. In the Genesis story of the tower of Babel, the people tried to build a tower to heaven to make a name for themselves. God confused their language so they wouldn’t think themselves sufficient to save themselves by themselves. Diversity of language and culture were intended to be humbling.
Recently I came across several quotes about “goodness”:
- A Greek proverb says, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit under.”
- The atheist Ricky Gervais says, “Good people do things for other people. That’s it. The end.”
- The rabbi Harold S. Kushner says, “Good people do good things, lots of them, because they are good people. They will do bad things because they are human.”
- The Christian theologian Karl Barth says, “We must once and for all give up trying to be self-made individuals. Let us cease preaching by ourselves, being right by ourselves, doing good by ourselves…God wants to do everything, certainly, through us and with us.”
So, who is right? I’m not sure that the question of “rightness” is even relevant. A more repentant question is, “How can I better hear what each of them are saying and find a commonality, a bridge to the other? How can I worry less about being right or winning an argument?”
Before you point at the other side and say, “Yes, they are like that,” point at yourself. Indeed, we should love goodness and hate wickedness, but do not hate anyone because they have not acceded to what you believe. Listen, really listen as a penitential act. Notice the needs of your neighbor. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Stop siloing. Plant a tree whose shade you will never sit under.
Love, Liz
