I think you are really on target even though it proves very difficult in practice not to turn people (especially those who disavow me in my attempts to be authentically faithful to Jesus' calling) into "its" in my planning and "0's" in my equations.  Jesus was/is incredible at seeing everyone as a real person.  We who claim him are tragically poor at following that example.  As you, and others who are commenting say, it does not mean avoiding honestly stating differences, it means remembering we are dealing with real people who God loves which puts us both inside a pretty important circle.  Thanks for the reminder.  I wish what you are challenging us to do and be was even "halfway to normal."  Maybe it is "all the way to normal," just not even half way to average.