The end of suburbia

Last night I went to a free outdoor showing of The End of Suburbia, put on at Performance Park in the walking mall downtown (thanks to Urban Mountain Development for hosting it). It’s an engaging documentary about life in America after world oil production peaks (which the filmmakers contend will be happening any minute now. While the film is from 2004, the various talking heads point to right about now as when world oil production will be peaking and beginning an inexorable decline).

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 Helena. I shop and eat and enjoy parks and go to ball games. A healthy society is incredibly important to me.

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.