One Hour of Conversation: Week of June 20

What?
Meet with a friend this week for at least an hour for an intentional conversation.

Why?
We were made for each other, and we can’t become lovers of God and neighbor without intimate relationships where vulnerability is sustained across time. In habitual, face-to-face conversation with each other, we learn to share our thoughts, feelings, joys and struggles and to listen to the thoughts, feelings, joys, and struggles of others. We know and become known and, in our vulnerability, are loved anyways. The Holy Spirit works through intentional conversations to grow us more fully into the image of God.

(The Common Rule, adapted)

How?
Invite a close friend who also aspires to love Jesus more to join you in this practice. Intentional conversations grow in intimacy and effectiveness over time, so consider meeting not just this week but the following weeks or every other week. Setting a consistent time and place will help.

If this is to be more than a time to hang out but to build a Proverbs 27:17 friendship (“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another”), begin to ask deeper questions. Ask specific questions about one another’s work life, civic life, home life, and spiritual life that could help you better understand your friend and also encourage or challenge them.

• Work Life: How can you better glorify God in your work? What are your relationships with your coworkers like? 

• Civic Life: How can you be an engaged citizen in your city or county? What shapes your political leanings? Are those guided by Scripture?

• Home and Relational Life: What are your relationships like with those inside your home? What are they like with those outside?

• Spiritual Life: What has recently inspired you to love God more? What temptations, challenges, or distractions have gotten in the way?