Last night I went to a free outdoor showing of The End of Suburbia, put on at
The point the film makes is that the American suburban lifestyle—with it’s endless tracts of single family homes, miles of interstates, and people driving everywhere in their personal cars for everything needed in life—is simply unsustainable in a post-cheap-energy world.
I realize that this kind of topic, along with anything vaguely political or environmental can quickly polarize people. So why bring it up when I should be making some more insightful comments about the new church?
Because the church needs to engage the realities of the world. Because our values as a church— from how we organize, to where we hold meetings, to how we will be involved in our community, to what kind of society we want to contribute to—our values are not isolated from the rest of life in our community.
I am not interested in a private spirituality that has no relationship to the rest of my life. I live and work in
And so our understanding of what it means to follow Jesus Christ must take into account what it means to live in society. We compartmentalize our faith, work, entertainment, finances, politics, and so on at our peril.
This film made me all the more want to walk more, downsize to one car, consume less (in every respect!) and simply simplify in general.
And interestingly enough, simplicity is one of the classical spiritual disciplines. Faith has always been tied to how we actually live our lives. We need to consider this as individuals, as the church, and as a society.
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3 comments:
Hey Matt! Congrats on your new blog!! Looks pretty cool. :-) I am in Tokyo now having lots of fun. Prayers are with you! Noriko
Matt
I like your blog! Krista, Lucy and I just returned from a relaxing vacation. I was able to finish a book, "Margin," by Richard Swenson who argues that followers of Jesus should create margin in time, emotional energy, physical energy and finances. In doing so, we will be more responsive to the Holy Spirit and be more effective servants. Richard Swenson also asserts, among other things, that Christians must pursue simplicity or simple living.
I was really moved by the ideas in the book - so much so that I did a Google search on "simple living." Within a few clicks I came across a DVD called $imply Enough, and I just finished watching it. The DVD is pretty much a dialogue between Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne who discuss various aspects to simple living in Christ.
I realize there are plenty of people who disagree with Tony Campolo's ideas and methods, but he said something very convicting when talking about how we spend our money. He said that we should live "a Christian lifestyle...a lifestyle that is not embarrassing as you stand before the Lord...in judgment." I found it to be a stark reminder: to whom much is given, much is expected.
If you or anyone in the Helena area want to borrow the book or DVD, let me know.
Len
Len,
Thanks for your thoughts. Simplicity is so completely foreign to the typical American mindset. And Christians are certainly not immune. Simplicity certainly takes discipline. I'd love to check out the $imply Enough DVD. It sounds great.
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