I’ve known John Inazu for a long time, all the way back to our Kairos young adults community in the early 2000s, and I always appreciate any opportunity to talk with him. He’s wise, thoughtful, and good, a deep lover of Jesus. I always come away from our conversations inspired to be a better person and to continue to follow Jesus as best I can, navigating prayerfully and humbly through complicated times in America and in the church.  He’s written several books including Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving through Deep Difference, and Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference with Tim Keller. These are important books for any Christian living in a society where there is a lot of difference, disagreement, and polarization.  They help us to be able to model Jesus well in order to be his loving presence in our world.

So in partnership with and at Restoration Anglican Church in Arlington, on Wednesday, May 15 from 7pm-8.30pm we are delighted to offer an evening with John on his most recent book Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect.  We’ll talk about that and other topics like Christian engagement in the public square, civility in discourse, pluralism in contemporary society, living Christianly in divided times, and Christian discipleship and spiritual practices in days such as these. John suggested he and I could have a conversation about these things, which gives us the opportunity to follow the leading of the Spirit in our time together, and gives me the liberty to ask deeper questions about how our spiritual lives connect to living in divided times and how followers of Jesus can be Christlike particularly in America right now.  There’ll be an opportunity for QnA as well.  We hope to see you there!  If you’re not able to join in person on May 15, consider registering for John’s virtual interview by our friends at The Trinity Forum this coming Friday.

Be thinking about this…how can I maximize this crazy year in American politics and society for my own spiritual formation?  How can living right now in this environment as a follower of Jesus not be a distraction from my discipleship but actually a tool for my formation?  How does this moment give me unique opportunities to be more like Jesus to the people around me, especially those who see things differently than I do?