It's been well over six months since graduation from the Seminary and roughly five months since I stopped teaching Sunday School. So I haven't been to church in five months. The tension is something like this: I've attended the same church my whole life, and I'm afraid to go anywhere else. It's actually not quite fear, but imagined comfort. Never mind I don't know half the people in the congregation anymore, but it is still somehow comfortable to go in there.
Susan is always writing these excellent posts about ministry and church, and she's written another one here. Her challenge:
I wondered today in class what would happen to our level of “community” if beginning this Sunday, all Christians were only allowed to travel walking-distance to Church, and bound to attend that single, walking-distance church for an entire year. And what if during that year, the primary purpose of attendance was to know and love everyone in the congregation (I’m assuming these churches will be smallish)~ love them like Jesus does. Forget whether the preaching is good (just go home and read your bible after church, or start a bible study group with 9 other people in your home, to make up for it) or whether the music is not your ’style’ (listen to what you like on your iPod as you walk home) or whether there isn’t a youth group for your kids (start one!) or whether you disagree with the doctrine (who believed everything exactly the same anyway, even in that church you used to attend that was 30 miles from home).Funny about convergences. Susan's ideas here really meet up with some of the other goals and projects I have in front of me right now about moving away from convenience. Sure, walking to church might be convenient in terms of transportation, but it's not so convenient in terms of having to meet new people, participate in an unfamiliar community, or let the Word wash over you from a new perspective. Cognitive inconvenience is much more jarring than physical inconvenience.
The evidence of soul-poverty is clear in my life. My posts here have reflected this--all the posts before Christmas were complaints, and I think that is evidence of a lack of holy exposure (however, I do think it would take a miracle for me to enjoy and drink in the Christmas season). This is not all church's fault. In fact, it is mostly my fault, failing to take responsibility for my own spiritual work, waiting for it (whatever it is) to happen to me and complaining about what I don't like--ultimately letting those become excuses for avoiding church. What happened to "Knock, and the Door Shall Be Opened to You?" I'm waiting for someone to sense my presence and let me in.
Maybe I should stop hanging around outside.
6 comments:
"Cognitive inconvenience is much more jarring than physical inconvenience."
Wow. So I'm wondering, if cars and probably cell-phones have been the overcomers of physical inconvenience, what has been the corresponding alleviator of congnitive inconvenience in our culture?
One thing that comes to mind is the prevalence of media that doesn't challenge the mind (with some notable exceptions, including television shows that are well-written, literate, and give the viewer the benefit of the doubt in terms of intelligence...and exceptional films). This comes in all forms, but particularly in 24-hour cable news and trashy reality television.
Also, anything that insulates us from the world outside of our everyday lives is cognitively problematic. The way tragedy is delivered to us is buried as a brief feature in the paper, a single clickable link on a webpage crowded with links, or as a brief mention in the evening news. Our culture lacks a sense of gravity, I think.
Inconvenience is (positively) countered by our unprescedented access to information and ideas. Thank you, the internet.
These are probably vague. What do you think?
I dont know, B, ... I've been pondering this. I agree with your list thus far for sure. I think I would add just the simple fact that we can choose from among SO many sources of "information" as well as "interaction" that if we wanted to, we would never have to relate to anything we dont agree with or anyONE we dont agree with. Buy only the books, watch the movies that support your views, only attend the church or club or school or join the political party and so on that agrees with your own ideals and thoughts. That kind of thing.
I'm thinking, no wonder then that some people get SO upset when the group or situation they are invovled with suddenly, in their mind, gets a "wild hair" and thinks a thought different....a "cognitive inconvenience" indeed!
Maybe you and AV should make a film called,
"An Inconvenient Cognition"
tee hee
I definitely agree with what you've said here about the one-sided potential of information (and it's not good potential, either). Everything is just "too" packaged or "too" delineated.
It seems like there is a mandate for ministry hooked in here somewhere. At least for my work as a teacher, it is my responsibility to expose my students to a variety of viewpoints in an unbiased way. This also means (a) cutting away the suspicion that accompanies competing explanations and (b) giving people who are offering a different explanation or viewpoint the benefit of the doubt in their desire to express an idea.
I love it when these ideas get jamming. Thanks for the good comments!
Becky, Thanks for sharing this. I thought Susan's post was very thought provoking as well.
There is a kind of simplicity that I think is so inherent and important to really connecting in Jesus, in the way God would have us to connect. I think Susan's thought kind of localizes that idea in a way that I think can be very useful.
I try to keep open with God and others. And just let things unfold as much as possible, being intentional more than anything, in just being present and being myself (in God).
Hopefully we can find a group of people who, in whatever else they may do in gathering, really do want to be real with each other and God. Not an easy calling for anyone. But I really think that's where we find the life from God in Jesus, that we're really a part of. And from that be the missional people, the Body of Christ to the world, we're called to be.
Ted:
Nicely said! Thanks for your insights.
Post a Comment