The Lowest Common Denominator. (LCD) Yep. A math term. Often used, if my memory serves me correct when trying to find the lowest common relationship between two or more seemingly disjointed fractions. Knowing this answer helps to compare fractions to each other, or to ease math operations around this common point.
I was thinking about this when preparing a rice dish for dinner the other night. We don’t need a whole cup of rice and often use a little less than 1/2 cup for most evening meals. I used a 1/3 cup and then 1/3 of the 1/3 cup… In my brain, I could not do this simple math even though the commonality between them all was a third! But 1/3 of 1/3 is not a third of a whole. Probably a 6th… Maybe?
And no. I don’t blame my fuddled mind on poor math understanding, only that I was tired and my mind was frazzled and it really made no difference because the rice was already being cooked!
Regardless. Fractions are more easily understood when you find the LCD. This is the Common Ground for fractions!
Late last night, while re-reading The Hunt for Red October for the umpteenth time, but the first time in over a decade, a paragraph popped out and raised it’s hand and said, “Pay attention! This is important!” John Ryan is observing the Americans and Russians sharing and talking as they get to know the submarine that has been whisked out of the Russians hands. The author, Tom Clancy, notes this:
Ryan was watching something he had never seen before, men from two different places and two very different cultures trying to find common ground. Both sides were reaching out, seeking similarities of character and experience, building a foundation for understanding. This was more than interesting. It was touching. (Pg 451)
While I’m sure this particular occurrence was unique to the purpose of the story, I’m sure it was a common site for Ryan’s experience with other Americans through his years of growing up.
We are always looking for common ground.
I’ve used this technique for years while meeting someone in a public setting, or even a phone call customer support representative. It breaks the ice. It shows interest. And, if you do it right, it opens the avenue of conversation.
“Where you from originally?” or when on the phone, “Where are you located?”
You could offend someone if they think you are doing this because they may obviously not be from around your neck of the woods, but if you keep your manner inquisitively pure then you probably allow them to state proudly they are locally born, bred and raised! Or, and since I’ve lived in military towns for over 30 years, you give them an opportunity to brag on being from Timbuktu!
Recently, I’ve had these questions open up dialogue that would not have been normally found had these questions remained mute.
- I did this the other day at a convenience store that sold Baskin and Robbins Ice Cream, and the answer surprised me! Houston! Baytown! I replied. We were like two peas in a pod of experience even though I’m much older, and taller, and our skin colors were different, and he came from the big city just to the east of my birthplace. Amazing! We still knew the same neck of common woods.
- Several weeks ago I called our new phone company owner for our home. Asking their location I find they are in Conroe, TX, just north of Houston and a place where I’ve had lots of experience and many family members reside. It eased my changes along with the Customer Service Rep knowing where my roots were and how closely connected we were!
Through the years I’ve learned life is often like the playground where everyone is trying to find out how they fit in with all the other students around them. Some are great on one piece of equipment or another, some prefer playing this game or that, and still, others just want to stand around and talk. Like a magnet draws we are pulled to our interest areas and it is easy to create a clique of “just us and no more.”
But to learn about others around you, someone needs to learn how to step across the aisle and search out the common ground! Friendships are created. Opportunities are unlocked. Knowledge is gained. And your future becomes broader because of a few words were spoken at perhaps an awkward time.
Here’s my thought today. The bible is full of examples of someone searching Common Ground.
Jesus did it as he called men to be his disciples, or to connect with Zacchaeus in the tree who wanted to see him, or even the Centurion who came to him because someone in his household was gravely ill. He found Common Ground around a dinner table, in the marketplace, or even traveling down a dusty road. He was not afraid to connect with sinners, zealots, or religious leaders. After all, his mission was to reach the world!
But let me share an example from Paul in Acts 17.
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” (Acts 17:1-3 NKJV)
Paul, in one of his preaching journeys, ends up at a synagogue and for three Sabbaths (Saturday’s) he hung out explaining the Gospel of Christ to the Jews and other listeners found in the city.
Notice. This was his custom. Enter another’s backyard, find the synagogue and open the dialogue. This is how he looked for, and in most cases found Common Ground.
His common ground was found in his heritage.
For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. (Philippians 3:3-7 NKJV)
He’s comparing the range of experiences based as a Gentile (no confidence in the flesh) and as a Jew (I have even more confidence in the flesh). And from his position, he knows then how to approach a stranger!
When Paul (Saul) was beginning to threaten the early church in Acts 8, God sends Philip out of Jerusalem toward Gaza and instructs him to approach a chariot where a man from another culture was reading Isaiah the Prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading.” He asks. And immediately a common ground was found between someone from another country, culture, and experience and is ready to seek out help to understand something that Philip knew so very well.
The common ground was not found in their differences of background, culture or country.
Rather, it was found in what one knew and what the other wanted to know!
Think about it. How do you find space in a foreign location to share something new? You have to open up the door of opportunity by reaching out to someone or something you may know something about, even though it may be in a totally different place or experience. You have to put yourself on the line to be rejected, criticized, or even run out of town… You may even need to feel discomfort. There may be a barrier you never perceived but this gives you the opportunity to tear it down for the sake of Common Ground.
Back to Paul. Even though this worked out, temporarily, as we heard Jeremy Painter say the other night, “Everywhere he (Paul) went there was either a revival or a riot. One of the two. He was either going to get pushed out of town, or the town was going to accept him.” That’s what happens here. They are driven out and eventually end up in Athens.
Paul, troubled in his spirit because of the idols throughout Athens, uses their evidence of idols as a tool to open the conversation beyond the synagogue, where he started. Remember. It is His Custom. Search for Common Ground.
Eventually, he has an opportunity to meet face to face with the philosophers of the city and made his case before them at Mars’ Hill (Areopagus) – a place where life and death are decided! Sometimes failure will bring about the death of a potential relationship!
How did Paul find Common Ground with the Philosophers?
Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. (Acts 17:22-24 NKJV)
Question. How did he connect this one idol to the God who made the world and everything in it?
Here’s a secret. You do not find Common Ground by tearing down the other from their position. As one ancient writer pens,
He (Paul) did not, (as Witsius observes), in the heat of his zeal break into the temples, pull down their images, demolish their altars, or fly in the face of their priests; nor did he run about the streets crying, “You are all the bond-slaves of the devil,” though it was too true; but he observed decorum, and kept himself within due bounds, doing that only which became a prudent man.
Outlandish actions often push people into a defensive position. Negative words cause them to lash out with language that paints their world in a positive light. Slash and burn will only bring out the warrior. Try to crush them and you’ll lose them. But we smart about searching for the Common Ground and you have the potential for positive results!
Jesus lays the foundation for how a Christian will handle persecution, and this works well for how we find Common Ground with others.
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. (Matthew 10:16-20 NKJV)
Paul, who was not focused on learning from their philosophy already understood that the Athenians worried about offending a god they may have missed in accepting all the various deities brought to life by their studies and beliefs. So. They offered a statue to a god they did not know just in case he made himself known to them and they could point to the idol and say, “See. We knew you were there but not who you were!”
Paul introduces their Common Ground. The God who is referenced by their Idol to an Unknown God. The philosophers wanted to know Paul’s teaching (Acts 17:19-20) and they were always interested in hearing some new thing. But if they did not like what you believed then it could produce your death!
Here’s my thought. We will never be able to reach anyone unless we find that space between us that is common to each other. Even if you are from different backgrounds, any few minutes of conversation should point you to that which is common, and from there you can build a relationship. You have to be willing to step out to find that spot or to step out and respond as another person tries to find the spot themselves.
Helping others find Common Ground only gives you access.
Though you may be Ford Guy, and I’m Mopar, the fact that we both love cars and can brag about our favorites and commiserate over the same inadequacies that others might experience, we have found that Common Ground that will open the doors for a deeper relationship. But Common Ground is meant to find that place where knowledge is similar and understanding can grow from. Don’t leave the common ground untouched too long else it will become barren and unfruitful.