emergent community

I was going really well and got sidetracked by some deck steps and a lego birthday party. On the plus side, I now have new steps coming off my deck downstairs, preparing for my eventual installation of a patio….when $5,000 can be better spent. I will probably come out of this for a total of about $1500- I should give 3500 away somewhere. Goodness knows it’s needed. I have this thing about spending so much money on houses etc. I mean, almost noone inherits their parents’ houses and lives in them…they sell them because they live in another time zone and don’t want to live in their parents’ house. So I guess we spend all this money upgrading so we can eventually sell it…sad really. Anyway, when 47% of the world lives on a dollar a day, I can skimp on the patio.

Not really where I started with this blog, but oh well. I have about 3 ideas running around in my head. One is for a blog about the Emergent/pomo church movement. One is on wal-mart, capitalism, my part in it, Ecuador, world poverty etc. And then there’s the one about the charismatic movement and where did that go? But, for tonight I think I’ll go with my topic on generations and the differentiation between individual and group.

I had a great convo today about the whole Emergent/pomo church movement, and in the process, the person I was talking to said “I think it’s a fad” to which I responded, yes, but some will fade, and I think some of it is showing us a new direction in church. He started talking generations and typical Gen Xers- and their disdain for absolute truth. He said what do they expect to find when life deals them bad hand and death, disease and discomfort set in- they will have no absolute truth to resort to- (if there are no goods and bads, it makes it hard to argue for justice when there is not standard of what’s just. ) My quick retort was that they are putting their stock in community- counting on relationships with others to carry them through. He responded that even community lets us down…true, I said, but that is what so many of these new communities are striving to do- build authentic community to really be the body of Christ. Something different than a well-wishing group of people connected by locality or common bonds. I think the phone rang and we were interrupted at this point….but it brought to mind lots of thoughts.

So, pomos do really value the relational. I see it everywhere, and the millenials and beyond are following in this way. What else is all this IMing, texting, cell phoning and “My Space” about? Connecting- being on a buddy list, knowing the minutiae of everyone’s life- worthy of blogging or not (mine being case in point). (Pause here to have meaningful discussion with husband as to nature of responses to 9-11- great convo). But will the community they make withstand the trials of life? Is the bond strong enough to walk through colon cancer with someone? Or alzheimers? Repeated drug abuse? A drunk driving homicide wreck? When your friends on My Space find out you were arrested for child pornography, do they stay by your side? Did they challenge you on the behavior beforehand? When they saw the signs? Is virtual e-community anywhere near as strong as physical community? Hard to answer all those. I do think it is possible for a community to walk through any of those scenarios with someone. I am just dubious that all the people who think they are in a community are actually in a community. How many substitutes for community are there? And the problem with E-community is that you are only who you represent yourself to be- and that can even be someone of a different gender, age, hometown, etc.

The other piece is how friends, and by extension community, have taken the place of immediate family. It is easy to see this change between my parents generation and mine. I like to use the example of driving 2 hours one day to visit for a few hours with some friends from high school, and ending up in my sister’s neighborhood. I had a great visit with my friends, but didn’t have time to call my sister or go by and see her. I had to get back for VBS that evening- another community commitment. So, what does that say about family vs. community in my life? And in good pomo fashion- I'll just end it there, for the conversation never really ends, despite the amazing lack of comments on my page.