Extremes (Introduction)

I've recently begun a devotional at work on basic Christianity. As long as I'm writing, thought I'd blog it too.

"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil." -Deuteronomy 30:15

"Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites, by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious." -GK Chesterton

EXTREMES (introduction)

One of the great challenges to the church today is the drastic cultural shift of the last 50 years, especially in the way the individual sees himself. My father's generation valued faithfulness and loyalty; that's why churches of that era had cemeteries. One generation expected to be in the same church as their parents, and be buried next to them. Today's generation, however, no longer shares those values, but is more committed to personal fulfillment. This is not necessarily a bad value, and it forces the church to shift to questions of fulfillment if she is to speak with clarity. But no one today is going to be buried next to Grandpa. He was a Christian, his son was an upwardly mobile agnostic, and his daughter in turn is a committed wiccan.

On one hand, the church should be excited about the modern concern with fulfillment. The gospel of Christ claims to be the ultimate definition of who man is and how his most basic needs are met. On the other hand, a quest for fulfillment means that all possibilities are open, and the world, including the church, is now a huge shopping mall of competing ideas.

The church is huffing and puffing to catch up in the competition. I read a Catholic author recently who argued that the great fault of Protestantism was the infinite splitting and division that occurred after the Reformation. His call was to come back to Mother Church with her infallible tradition and teaching office. What he failed to see was that in American culture the Roman Church is just another voice. There is no way around the fact that the American church is a potpourri of choices, and churches set forth their wares in the open market, hoping to hook someone's personal quest for meaning.

It's not unusual for visitors at my home church to declare at the door that they're "church shopping" (I hate the term). That means they are trying to find a particular combination of teaching and practice that make them feel "fulfilled." I picture myself with a half opened overcoat with watches hanging on the inside: "How about this little number here--slightly used, with a Methodist face, and matching hands that glow in the dark with Pentecostal fervor." Or how about an evangelical Starbucks: "I'd like a large cup of grace and love, with a dash of good works (so I can feel OK about myself), a hint of just enough suffering to look humble, but leave off the heavy doctrine--it gives me a headache." Don't shake my world. Just fulfill me.

I saw a spot on the news recently in which baseball fans were questioning the practice of walking a talented batter. It means that the best seldom get to perform, and the less talented play the game. The fans don't see as many great plays. Excellence takes a back seat to winning.

I wonder if that's not a metaphor for the church. At her best, the church is full of extremes: martyrs, heretics, councils that settled life and death issues, renewals, revivals, reformations, and saints. Her doctrine breeds sheer terror and joyous ecstasy. What can be more extreme than the notion that God became man? Nothing mediocre there! Yet I fear that the church in our culture has settled for a cup of latte, or to stick with the metaphor, "Ball four; take your base." I personally think the church needs to forgo selling a product, and return to confessing her extremes. More next time. . . .