One aspect of the experiment we are living is trying to experience Christianity as a 24/7 lifestyle and understand it beyond what for us was a preoccupation with Sunday and going to church. But trying to step beyond the sacred / secular dichotomy is proving to be a bigger challenge than I thought. Maybe it's got a lot to do with being employed by the church as a Pastor for all of my adult life, but I have a hunch that it is much broader issue.
During our gathering the other night we were singing a great song that has a line about serving God with our "life and ministry". At the end one of the young people in our group quipped "But I thought life was supposed to be ministry..." Hmmm. Out of the mouth of babes.
Call it a Freudian slip, but I think our language betrays where our head and heart are really at. The issue of 'going to church' versus 'being the church' is more than just semantics. It is an issue that I think Christians need to wrestle with. But be prepared to get bruised in the tustle! I know I have been...
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Hi Darcy. I couldn't agree with you more. Our language betrays our assumptions and paradigms about life.
One of the books that most impacts my thinking is "Foolishness to the Greeks" by Newbigin (can't think of his first name). He was a missionary to India for so long that when he eventually came back to our culture he was shocked by the rampant dichotomization of our lives.
One of the main false dicotomies that he points out is the fact/faith dichotomy. The world of facts is for everyone and "public" and the world of faith is individual and "private." The consequence of this is that "going to church" is a private matter of an individual's faith and then the rest of their work week is lived in the public world of facts that is immune to the person's faith.
If our culture today we are so de-sensitized to these dichotomies that a popular one you referred to is the head/heart dichotomy... and probably you didn't even pause at typing it.
A close friend of mine keeps questioning all the dichotomies I have, pushing me to live a life without dichotomy - which is a product of our culture - in order to challenge our culture and question it's paradigms with the life of Christ (who lived this way).
By the very way you are struggling to live I can see that you are doing the same.
Thanks for ministering to Terry and I.
Dean.
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