“Good questions precede good solutions,” said John Terrill, the director of the Upper House on the UW-Madison campus. “That’s what Q is all about.”
For the second time this year a diverse group of Madison area residents gathered at the Upper House for Q Commons, a provocative blend of ideas from local and national Christian leaders, well known and lesser known, designed to stimulate conversations and maybe some solutions. Q was originated by author Gabe Lyons who hosts the satellite feed that makes up half of the program.
John Terrill welcomed the crowd of about 140 people to the Upper House, and introduced the three local leaders:
- Alex Miranda, Award winning actor, director, producer
- Gloria Ladson-Billings, UW-Madison professor and education research
- Mark Johnson, UW-Madison women’s hockey coach and Olympic gold medalist
Miranda talked about the power of stories that help us connect with each other, and observed that Jesus was a great story teller. “Each one of us has a story to tell,” he said. “The more we share our stories, the more opportunities we have to do good.”
Ladson-Billings researches teachers who are sucessful in working with African American students. She is also a deacon in her church. “There is power in the least of these,” she said. “The place to find God’s presence is in the least of these.” She suggested the places to find God’s presence were more likely to be the homeless shelter, the prison, and the hospital rather than the seats of power; along the sidewalks up and down State Street rather than the capitol or Bascom Hall. “Your Christian walk requires you to serve the least of these,” she added.
Johnson, who has won four national championships in his 14 years as Badger women’s hockey coach, admitted he was uncertain about his approach when he was named coach of the women’s team. But now he admits he would rather coach the women. “They listen better than men,” he observed. Sharing his values, as well as his hockey skills and strategies, summarizes his approach to coaching.
The Q Commons audience, seated at tables, had a chance to discuss responses to some of the ideas they were hearing and question the local speakers. Interspersed with the local speakers were the national speakers on the satellite feed:
Os Guinness, a prolific author and social observor, referenced “50 years of incessant culture warring” and offered some ideas on how to communicate with others about our deepest differences. “How we live with our differences is crucial to our time,” he said.
Carolyn Leaf, a cognitive neuroscientist and communication pathologist, discussed research that contrasted the brain with the mind, suggesting the mind had more control over the brain that scientists thought. “Science and Scripture can’t be separated, it’s the same author,” she observed.
The final satellite segment featured Lyons doing four interviews. Interviewees included:
- Ebola survivor Kent Brantley – “It’s my faith that put me in a place where I got Ebola.”
- Compton California mayor Aja Brown – “In order for Christians to have an influence you have to have a relationship. Get out of the church.”
- Catherine Davis, of the National Black Pro-Life Coalition, charged that Planned Parenthod founder Margaret Sanger was a eugenicist, and began the nation’s largest abortion provider because she felt that black lives don’t matter.
- Patricia Mouamar, a former refugee and World Vision representative, discussed the dimensions of the refugee situation in the Middle East. In her home country of Lebanon there are now about one million Syrian refugees, making up about twenty percent of the population of that small country.
Stimulating discussions of provocative ideas, and perhaps, eventually some solutions. Q Commons and it’s Madison venue, Upper House, fit in well with an apparent groundswell of Christian activism in Madison, further exemplified by but not limited to the Justified Anger movement and the recently launched Madison Christian Giving Fund.