Not Your Mama’s Church (country, world, etc.)
“There’s no undoing the shift in plausibility structures that characterize our age. There’s no undoing the secular; there’s just the task of learning how (not) to live – and perhaps even believe – in a secular age.” – James K.A. Smith (11)
“The REAL problem with Millennials is that they have to live with the mess we made without the God we got rid of.” – My dad (and probably someone famous somewhere)
“What if God was one of us – just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home?” – Alanis Morrisette
There is no getting around the fact that we live in a secularized society – at least in Western culture. Where once the idea of NOT believing in God was unheard of, it’s now considered a little weird to believe, much less actually be devoted to God. To many of us who DO believe, that feels a little like persecution (it’s not) and, frankly, sets up a bit of an existential crisis. If NOT believing is normal, WHY do I believe? WHAT do I believe? And HOW can I ever explain it to someone else in a way that encourages them to believe?
I grew up hearing that there is a “God-shaped hole” in each of us. I started to suspect that wasn’t necessarily true when I asked my high-school youth pastor if the hole ever got empty once we “found” God and why people who had the hole filled still acted like they hadn’t, and what about the people who felt fulfilled without God? He dismissed my questions (practically rolling his eyes) and said that those people were either in denial or lying. What he didn’t get is that I was asking because he claimed to be “filled” but he was kind of a jerk to all the girls in the youth group and talked smack about the senior pastor in front of us. I think his “God hole” wasn’t quite full.
Seriously though, it was stuff like this that made me wonder if we were all missing the point. We were given tidy little tracts and maps to explain how to get to God but, as Smith notes, fundamentalist maps (atheist or Christian) are “blunt instruments. They are road atlases that merely show us well-worn thoroughfares, the streets and interstates of our late modern commerce. They do nothing to map the existential wilderness of the present – those bewildering places in which we are beset by an existential vertigo.”[1] In other words, those maps rely on the inherent believability of God as has been presented for centuries. Once that believability shifts or fades, all we have are maps to ancient civilizations that don’t exist anymore and are long buried under new cities and roads. We don’t live in a world where belief in God is a given anymore. It’s certainly an option (in a “Hey, you do you!” kind of way), but it’s just one option among many.[2]
If the basic precepts of our culture have changed so drastically, what does this mean for our churches? Can our churches escape this secularism? Even if we can, should we? Most of the books we have read during our Doctor of Ministry program have highlighted the deep changes that have happened and how we as leaders can navigate these changes and help others to navigate them as well. What happens, then, when part of our congregation embraces this secularity (while maintaining a life of faith), some of them struggle to find any sort of faith in this new paradigm, and a large contingent simply long for the good old days “when God was on the throne and prayer was in schools?” These sound like stereotypes, but they represent real people in congregations and the tension created by the differing presuppositions is thick and dangerous. This is why I am looking so forward to exploring Charles Taylor’s offering of telling a new story, including the history of how we got here, and telling it often. Where does the narrative of our society intersect with the narrative of God even when that society views God as simply an option – and an unbelievable one at that? I have a sneaking suspicion that love is at the heart of the story and that a society that has been force-fed ideas about wrath and punishment may well be more receptive to ideas of love, but I will know more next week when I dive into Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age. Stay tuned.
[1]. James K.A. Smith, How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2014), 2.
About the Author
Kristin Hamilton
15 responses to “Not Your Mama’s Church (country, world, etc.)”
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Something must bridge the gap and I agree with you, maybe it will prove to be love.
Taylor tells us that the story of how we got here is complex, but I am wondering if all things have passed away. Society is different, but can God’s Word still speak to us? In my lifetime I’ve seen political correctness change. Even if people didn’t believe the Bible at least they spoke of it respectfully. Now you are looked at with pity or spite if you try and say the Bible has some authority. Here’s a question – so what does it mean to be a Christian today? Who is Jesus today? (ok, that was 2 questions) I want to answer those, not just for myself, but so I can speak to those who are hurting and share an answer with them.
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Taylor!!
I do think God’s word can still speak to us, Mary, but I think we need to re-learn how to listen and interpret that Word. The Holy Spirit has to be in charge of that, and I’m not sure many parts of the church are ready for that. So much of the church is entrenched in “hearing” the Bible as interpreted by people who were looking to prove something rather than to reveal something. Maybe it’s just time for some good “old-fashioned” humility.
Great quote from your dad: “The REAL problem with Millennials is that they have to live with the mess we made without the God we got rid of.” Frankly, I’d like to read a book by him more than the recent read. I’m hoping your prediction for the next book is accurate. “I have a sneaking suspicion that love is at the heart of the story and that a society…”. That would make for a captivating read.
Your question about should we take secularism out of church? I have often longed for more peace where it can be had between religion and society. One without the other tends to make one radically fundamental, and the other frighteningly godless. We don’t have to look for disagreements, as they happen organically. But what if we just didn’t capitalize on differences and put our attention into developing relationships of love and respect? Seems we all have a lot to learn about that keeping us busy for generations, while not affording us the time to dicker about differences. And yes, I agree with you. Your youth pastor sounded like his God-shaped hole was a bit hallow or still in the process of being filled.
My dad is honestly the smartest man I know, Jen. 🙂
I think one of the most important things that I took from Smith is that we have to stop trying to cast secularism as the enemy and embrace the fact that we are ALL secular – we can’t avoid it so how do we live with it? If we believe that God is not caught off guard by anything we do, then we have to lean into the fact that God has already figured a way to intersect with secularism and that way is – as it has been in the past – Jesus and the Spirit. I think we are the one’s getting in the way of that intersection.
I love the question;
Where does the narrative of our society intersect with the narrative of God even when that society views God as simply an option – and an unbelievable one at that?
I would say when God has had enough of our stank!
Ha!
That’s not exactly how I meant that question, Lynda. I meant that we need to find the place where God is already intersecting with the secular, the places where God is at work, and join God there (stank and all!).
“We were given tidy little tracts and maps to explain how to get to God.”
Kristen, part of my responsibility at our church is to lead the evangelism strategy of our church. To be honest, there is little that is more exciting to me as seeing someone choose to follow Christ.
Yet, for many evangelical Christians, “evangelism” has little to do with relationships, interaction, or investment. It is boiled down to A) Here is a tract or B) Let me argue with you. Neither of this gets me very excited.
I do get excited about sharing Bibles with people. Unlike a tract, the Bible (or even a New Testament) is filled with mystery, drama, inspiration, and many other things that the Holy Spirit can use to draw people to Himself.
I am with you, Stu! The Bible to me isn’t a map or a strategy; it is a collection of stories, poems, journal posts, religious guidelines, and imaginations about God and God’s people. When we give that to others and they see the revelation of God it is so very exciting! One thing secularism teaches us is that there is no formula. That’s why stories matter.
Kristin, I didn’t have to read beyond your dad’s quote — though I did! In one sentence he summarized the whole of the secular age. Place your dad’s quote together with Smith’s quote (existential wilderness, existential vertigo) and you can sense the deep feeling of lostness and even the fear that permeates our secular age. Are we really and truly all alone on spaceship earth flying through the cosmos? Can our answers only be found within an immanent framework? Is there room for the transcendent? Does anyone have a viable map? Does anyone know anyone, an expert possibly, who can help us? On your questions: I don’t think the church can escape secularism, nor should the church. I think this might be one of the most opportune times—at least in my lifetim—to see the church make an impact in the West and the whole world. If we believe in the imminent return of Christ, the world is not ours to rule. It is, however, the place where a Christian is required to be the salt and light in the framework of both immanence (we are the salt) and transcendence (we show the light). I do believe this can be one of the church’s great moments!
Your questions are so good, Jim. “Can our answers only be found within an immanent framework? Is there room for the transcendent? Does anyone have a viable map?” I tend to think that the transcendent and maps are at complete odds with each other. If we can create a map or a formula, it’s probably not really about the transcendent. Salt and light – wow that really stirred some things in me. The meal and the story – those are things that help us experience the transcendent, right?
Kristin– You & I both resonated well with Smith’s intro to Taylor. I, too, am “excited” to dive into Taylor’s text, and am currently living in a very real confluence of the faithful secular Christians (younger) and nostalgia for the church of yesterday (older). As a church leader, how do I navigate that path gracefully? As you suspect, we remind people that, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we love one another and respect each other. For the older folks, we remind them that, if they truly love their church, they will desire to see it continue after they’re gone and be gracious with the younger. We encourage the younger to defer respectfully to the older. Still, you’re spot on with the tension.
It’s a difficult path, Katy! I think there is so much fear that we are slipping away from God that the nostalgia becomes an idol that ultimately and ironically pulls people away from God. I’ve been reading midrashes (sic?) from different sources and I am amazed at how comfortable the Rabbis were and are with the tensions, letting questions hang without answers. Perhaps we need a bit more of that in our churches?
Ok, 1st – LOVE your Dad’s quote. That is just next level awesome.
2nd – Isn’t ‘what if God were one of us’ a Joan Osborne song?
3rd – I really resonated with all that you said – but at the same time, a part of me (maybe the traditional part) still believes – or at the very least wants to believe – that there is a God shape hole in each of us…… or at the very least that we really all were created to be in relationship with God.
But how does that work in a world that has moved past God?
How can we speak to a need that isn’t perceived?
You are, of course, right that it’s Joan Osborne, Chip. That’s what I get for listening to a remake and not doing my homework on it!
I don’t think I want to deny the idea that we are created to be in relationship with God. I just think the whole God-shaped hole thing limits that relationship. Like once we find the “key” we are complete, and that just isn’t true. It’s a life-long process, linking us to God through community and creation. I think people are looking for something intangible and have no idea that God is the pathway to that wholeness. If that weren’t true, Eastern meditation, holistic wellness, and seeking transformation in nature would all be just hobbies. Maybe we just need new language for the transcendence of God.
Dad’s quote = problem solved! Yes there is a “solution” and No we cannot solve these problems by ourselves. I do believe that we have gotten in our own way. We have somehow replaced God in our own way of faithful living with a diety that supports our own desires. Yes I do think there is so much power in narrative. My hope is that we tell the right story–one of love and truth and not one that propagates a failed religious agenda.