“Being more prosperous has allowed Americans to more effectively hide from their thoughts.”
Alan Noble’s book, Disruptive Witness, is filled with quotes like the one above. I started reading it as part of a Cru book club. On occasion I read something that strikes a chord with how our historic faith intersects with our modern world. Noble’s book fits into that genre. It’s a book to read and dissect.
Noble looks at the issue in our society of our always distracted self. We don’t think deep thoughts, and if we get close to one, then we turn away from it quickly because of the constant barrage of distraction our world provides. Phones, computer, TVs, screens of all sizes and variety constantly pull our attention away from the divine. It’s hard for us to think in this environment, so how do we think we can communicate the deep truths of our faith?
Noble shares ways for us to engage in witnessing disruptively. One primary way involves what he calls the “double movement.” This is the “practice of first acknowledging goodness, beauty, and blessing wherever we encounter them in life, and then turning the goodness outward to glorify God and love our neighbor.” By speaking of the goodness and blessing of God in our lives, we help our friends and neighbors see that this material world is not all there is, and a transcendent God also exists and cares for us.
There’s a scratch on the surface of this book. Noble’s thoughts are worth our time as we consider communicating our faith into a distracted world.
Thank you so much for this, so much truth to the quote and your response! It is a challenge when teaching and for me as well. I look forward to reading the book.