Thought for the week

THE video that went viral of the stormy parish council meeting in Handforth, Cheshire caused many of us who’ve been involved in on-line meetings both to giggle and to gasp.

It’s shocking to see behaviours that are rude, uncontrolled and all too recognisable recorded and put “out there” for everyone to see.

I guess that all of us will have had moments when we’ve let our anger or pent up feelings spill over into unhealthy or immoderate communication.

And when we’ve been in difficult meetings, whether we have been the angry ones, or whether we’ve been on the receiving end of someone else’s strong feelings we can feel pretty uncomfortable and even upset.

Speaking too much, or not being able to speak can leave us feeling sad, deflated or wounded.

During this pandemic when so much communication has had to be on-line there are many new things to learn about how to communicate well.

It’s extra difficult to communicate effectively when those who take part in meetings are not all together in the same room.

It can feel so strange talking through a screen, and of course there is a great variety in people’s levels of comfort with technology.

If I’ve been learning anything about this, it’s that in a time of anxiety we need to be extra kind and thoughtful with one another in meetings.

Christians might find resources for learning about this in Jesus’s example of self-emptying love – about putting others first: A way of living that seeks to prioritise understanding and encouraging others.

I find in Jesus’s story the power of forgiveness and the gift of reconciliation.

Christ-like communication offers a way of being that’s certainly not easy, but one charged with hope and possibility.