Seismic Retrofitting
A Formative Community > A Performative Community
Dear Trinity, Jesus’ grace dear ones. “DID YOU FEEL THAT?” My Minnesota bones are more familiar with escaping to a basement because of tornado warnings. Joy is the earthquake expert around here, so when the earthquake begins I look to her: Hold on? Hunker down? Run for cover? Or, run away from cover?
I don’t think I have to convince you that we are living through a seismic age, and I don’t really feel like making a convincing list of dire observations. Yet, the church, along with every other institution is also asking, “DID YOU FEEL THAT?” Yuval Levin writes that, “we have moved from seeing our institutions as formative to thinking of them as performative–from viewing them as molds that shape our character to viewing them as platforms that enable us to be seen” (A Time to Build, Basic Books). I started noticing this with weddings and funerals years ago. Now I’m tempted to sound like an old curmudgeon, but ‘in the good old days’ the liturgy or tradition would determine how the wedding or funeral would take shape. Now, they are generally seen as opportunities for expressive individualism. Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with personality and creativity and pinterest touches. But, notice the shift. Weddings used to ‘make’ a married couple. Now, the couple ‘makes’ a wedding. When institutions become more performative than formative, we might notice some of the following:
Parenting is seen more as childhood-curation instead of character-shaping (training up a child in the way they should go).
Worship is seen more as something you get something out of or an experience instead of an essential encounter with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Appearance (presented external life) is far more important than reality (integral interior life).
Spirituality is primarily experienced as utilitarian and private: does it work for me?
Authenticity is the truest creed. Be true to yourself.
Congregations are seen more as a constituency to be coddled, or ‘followers’ to gain their ‘leaders’ a platform, than a flock to be loved, and led, and fed, and protected.
The church of Jesus Christ is more than another institution. It is Christ’s body on earth and in heaven, and it has a mission to form members of that body in abiding relationships with one another and with her head–Jesus Christ. Here your individual uniqueness is joined to a community that will shape you into someone more Christlike. Here your personal story will finally make sense in the light of the truest story ever told of creation and rebellion and redemption and promise–the story of God. Every Sunday that story is proclaimed and participated in liturgy and song, sermon and sacrament, catechesis and small group. Every Holy Week, like every Passover before, the individual joins the community that doesn’t necessarily share all the same interests, the same economic status, or the same political leanings. No, this community shares something far more important: a sacrificial Lamb, applied blood, an exodus from slavery, and a life that is oriented toward promise. In losing the self, you find life. You find true belovedness.
You belong, Nathan
