Can We Talk?

My “brush with celebrity” includes 1) a snapshot of Tennessee Ernie Ford at the Seymour fair and 2) Marissa Myer, the new CEO of Yahoo grew up in one of my interim congregations.  Bless his pea pickin’ heart, Tennessee Ernie Ford is no longer with us.  Marissa Myer on the other hand has been making business news.  She recently reversed the privilege of working from home for Yahoo employees.  Whenever a policy change occurs in business there will be dissent and so it was with this decision.

I’d like to think Ms. Myer’s decision stemmed from her strong confessional background and the influence of Luther and Melanchthon.  But, my guess is that it is purely business theory.  The policy appears to discourage isolationism in the workplace and to encourage communication and teamwork.

For being a sexagenarian I think that I am fairly tech savvy. I text message and depend on email.  I send attachments.  Not to mention, I blog and have two different Facebook pages.  However, nothing compares to live human communication.  Electronic communication will never (in my lifetime) pick up the nuances of human communication.  As far as I know there is not a font for sarcasm or sincerity, skepticism or concern.

The human condition depends on community.  Without some sense of community we slowly weaken.  The human spirit erodes into something that simply goes through the motions of life. There is a certain kind of energy when we come together for a purpose.  As Christians we believe the words of Jesus, “Whenever two or three are gathered in my name I am in the midst of them.”  I think it happens in the secular realms as well.  When we are in cooperative work relationships the results are greater than the sum of the parts.

It’s more fun when we do stuff together, too.  A few years ago I was an interim in a parish where I often had no human connection from Sunday to Sunday.  I had no secretary to kid with, no custodian to kvetch to.  When Christmas came I decided to have a staff party at Culver’s.  I bought an eggnog shake at the drive through.

I hear of people whose religious connection is watching a preacher or two on TV while sitting in jammies and a bathrobe. It may be entertaining but where is the human connection?

From my pastoral perspective or maybe my sexagenarian perspective, in a time of growing isolation, we need those moments to celebrate community.  We need to talk to one another.  We need to wait in lines together.  We need to gather around the water cooler.  We need to be assigned to work together as a team.  We need to initiate dialog.  The human family will only be made strong when it is linked together.  Families are made healthy by authentic communication.  Congregations are healthy when people are in genuine conversation.  Workplaces are productive when face-to-face contact leads to cooperation.

Talk among yourselves!