The Two Way Street

The other night i decided rather then tell everyone in my family the same story about where my life is headed ten million times, we could all just get together for a family dinner and talk/discuss all the things that are beginning to take shape in my wild and precious life. In a lot of ways, not only did i get to explain a little bit about what i'm going to be doing the next year, but it also opened the table to discussion on the church in general. So lets just get this out in the open right off the get go, the topic of the modern church in a postmodern world. 

This has been an ever present topic for centuries among religious figures and common people alike. Yet, i feel like in recent years this topic has become closer and closer to home as the postmodern world seams to be racing forward with out any thought to the modern church that's being left behind. And the church is standing there with there hands in the air as if to say, "What are we suppose to do?" or my favorite, "We've been doing it this way for years!"  I myself have struggled greatly with this topic.

Do i consider myself a spiritual person? Yes i do. Do i consider myself a religious person? I'm not so sure. Do i feel a major disconnect between myself and the institutional church? You better believe it. Not to speak out of turn, but i feel this is a fairly true statement for a good portion of my generation. Whether we have been brought up in the church or not, we've come to feel ridiculed by the generations who have gone before us. And to a certain extent some of those feelings are justified. But, during our dinner conversations the other night, i've come to the realization that maybe we have directed some of that same ridicule on the older generations, just as we feel it from them.

The two way street. A street that may look a little bit like this. The younger generations want to reword the lord's prayer to make it easier for more people in todays world to relate to, not the meaning, just the wording. Well, to the older generations who were brought up in a church were memorization was part of how you learned about your faith, changing the words that they memorized, as maybe a part of their confirmation etc., is taking something of their religion and their faith story and condemning it. Now i'm not saying that this is necessarily the case at all, BUT it is how it may be being perceived. This is just one example of many that came up in discussion. Is one wrong? Is one right? I'm going to have to go with no. And this is why.

Last weekend as the discernment interview placement event for the young adults in global mission program through the ELCA, we had a speaker. His name was Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, the  Executive Director for ELCA Global Mission. Rafael was the first person i've ever had the privilege of meeting who finally was able to give me something concrete to land my spiritual feet upon. The root, the basis, and fundamental belief that the bigger church has lost sight of in my opinion.

                                               LOVE!

A relationship with our fellow brothers and sisters of accompanying love. If you take a step back, my generation, we are the ones doing a little bit of finger pointing as well when we are asking the world around us to be an inclusive community. And don't get me wrong, i am VERY proud to be a part of our generation, I am. We are doing and are going to continue to do great things in the world. But if we are going to ask for the things we are of this world, and this church, we cant be all about take. We still have to be willing to give as well. We are very capable of doing this, i see it in action all the time. It's simply a matter of being open to the perception of the generations around us. And maybe more specifically, the local generations around us. We are a worldly generation, the world is a much smaller place to us then it was to our grandparents. Lets not loose sight ourselves of the things that have gotten us to today either.

Peace