tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4543571234839860076.post7849174251064434990..comments2023-08-16T07:10:46.456-07:00Comments on The Quiet Protest: The Church as Community or Speaking God's Yes and NoKen Piercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03161121731160400592noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4543571234839860076.post-3126273743711428422010-08-17T06:44:10.567-07:002010-08-17T06:44:10.567-07:00The Amish probably have a lot right...
Yet, isola...The Amish probably have a lot right...<br /><br />Yet, isolation is not new to the American experiment. In fact, one might argue that it is at the very heart of it. Yes, at one time, many people dwelt in towns, surrounded by kith (whatever they are) and kin. In cities, there were strong neighborhoods bounded by ethnic and socio-economic ties. Downtowns were the happy meeting place of these cultures, both in city and small town.<br /><br />But, for many, if not most, Americans, there was the isolation of the prairie homestead and the mountain holler, an isolation that bred a particularly desolate and bleak worldview, and (as in Appalachia) a debauched and violent history.<br /><br />The point is this: the church is supposed to transcend that, and flourish in community despite what is happening in the larger culture for good or for ill.<br /><br />In rural Virginia, people tended to live far apart, surrounded by the lands necessary to provide their livelihood. I imagine, in the days before cars, this meant a lot of isolation. Presently, however, at least in our case, the church served as a hub of community life, even as people came from as far as 65 miles away (and many more from 35 or 20), they were still part of that community. Spirit transcended geography. It was a unique thing. It showed me that the church itself, if it is being the church, can create the community, despite the realities of separation.<br /><br />When we moved to the Jackson metro from the rural Blue Ridge, we were excited to live in a neighborhood. The reality is far different from what we expected, with the exception of one family that lives behind us. Nobody is ever out of doors --at least not in their front yard. There is no community there. There is no community centered on school either, which is far different from my Midwest farm town upbringing. The church, then, can provide the community for those who are committed to it. Part of the problem in Jackson, I think, is that there are too many good options, so, when I get a bit irritated at a church, I can find a church that irritates me less. When the new church irritates me, as it inevitably will, since everyone but me is a sinner, then I move on to church C. <br /><br />It is just everything that is wrong with current American culture writ small.Ken Piercehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03161121731160400592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4543571234839860076.post-39112071192326173762010-08-16T19:45:44.291-07:002010-08-16T19:45:44.291-07:00It seems to me that here, as in almost every other...It seems to me that here, as in almost every other area of Christian life, the church is following the American culture as it's been going for a century or more. As soon as the automobile became affordable, people began moving out and out and out, as far as they could get, and then when they couldn't get any farther, they built bigger and bigger houses. Why? To get away from other people.<br /><br />We say it's all about creating community, but really if there is any community in the gated subdivisions, it's one that is composed of people all the same--same income, same level of education, same aspirations, nowadays even the same politics. Those are the only people we want to be around, and even then they get on our nerves and we move to a "better community" and hole up in our big houses, each person to his own room, playing on the Wii or watching movies or surfing the internet. <br /><br />This way we don't have to interact with other humans who may annoy us and we them. We don't have to listen to them playing their music so loud it vibrates the house (my particular thorn-in-the-flesh) or see homeless people or listen to Democratic neighbors bash whatever politician we happen to like.<br /><br />Marriage is the same way, why work at it when you can just dump it and move on, confident that you have made the right decision for your own self-actualization? The list goes on, jobs, best friends, local businesses--if they are holding you back, move on, don't worry about them.<br /><br />Sometimes I wonder if maybe the Amish have it right . . .Jennifernoreply@blogger.com