Communications

5.1 Devotional. Red-Letter Communication - Part 5

Getting Started

Throughout the Holy Bible, we are able to see ways in which Jesus demonstrated leadership principles that we today hold up as best practices. Throughout the class, we will look at this Red-Letter Leadership (in many Bibles the words of Jesus are printed in red) as it applies to communication.

In past courses, your devotional reflection has been a 1/2 to 1-page interaction between you, the Bible text, and some provided prompts. For this course on communication, we are going to switch things up a bit. Instead of a written reflection, you will provide a 3-to-5-minute video reflection using the Video Note tool (like you have done for the course opening biographies). While you may want to make some notes or a basic outline of key ideas that you want to communicate in your video (in response to the Bible text and prompts), important values for the video reflection are authenticity and transparency. Often it can be helpful to think about three categories of response:

1. What are the key insights that occurred via your reflection?

2. What are some of the ideas, principles, or perspectives that really touched you deeply?

3. What are the questions you are grappling with as a result of the reflection?

Consider your video note to be like a personal conversation you are having with a trusted friend or advisor in a quiet booth at the back of a restaurant over a cup of coffee or tea.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

· Appraise a biblical perspective regarding communication.

Background Information

The Parable of the Tenants

He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!” Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?

Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people. Luke 20:9-19 (NIV)

Jesus told this parable to demonstrate to the people of Israel how they had treated the prophets God had sent to communicate His message to them. You can see that the story Jesus told shocked the listeners. Similar to the parable of the Good Samaritan, the listeners were clear at the end of the parable how they should act. Jesus is also communicating through this parable that he is the son being sent by God as the final chance.

Instructions

1. Record a 3- to 5-minute video response to the questions below using the Video Note tool. Additional assistance on the use of Video Note can be found in this  article (new tab) .

a. One lesson we can learn from this parable is that stories do not need to be long to be powerful. What was the personal or even spiritual insight you gained from that story?

b. The stories told in an organization shape the culture. What is a story told in your organization that has shaped the way people think or act?