The conservative element says the liberal element is caving in to American culture. At they same time, they argue that the wider church is out of touch with the culture. It's always convenient to have it both ways.
The liberal element says the conservative element is ignoring centuries of scholarship and the ongoing development of the faith. They also counter the conservative argument against culture with a claim that the conservative element has simply chosen another point in time as their cultural touchstone. In other words, there is no moment in the history of the faith that can somehow be extracted from the culture in which it was found.
The trouble for me is that I agree with both camps.
I do believe we are caving in to the culture in which we find ourselves. That's a good thing-- and Christianity has a long venerable history doing it over and over again. Simple examples are the Christian celebrations of Advent & Christmas (Druid in origin), Easter (pagan Egyptian).
I also believe the church is out of touch with the culture of today. That's not a good thing. Nearly every church with which I consult wants to know how to attract [fill in the blank]. Usually it's younger folks or people of color. Then I ask the magic question: tell me about your worship and where in it people who are [fill in the blank] would experience something of themselves? The answer is always the same: they won't. If you want to be attractive [fill in the blank] then your worship (and that's just one place among many) had better reflect at least some of the culture of [fill in the blank]. Without it, then you're sending the message that you will welcome only those who are willing to adopt your culture, your music, your language-- even when it isn't their own. And isn't that a nice message? We Episcopalians really bite at this.
I also believe that the faith is a living, breathing, ongoing, progressing relationship between God and humanity. It doesn't need to be protected. And it doesn't live in a vacuum. And we try to freeze it in time at our own peril. If Jesus worked so hard to give people a new vision in his own day-- precisely at those times when humanity had twisted and turned the spirit of the faith into a rule-bound mess that excluded and oppresse people-- then why do we believe it is any different for us? I do believe that the truth of God does not change, but our understanding of that truth should always be questioned and open to change.
So I am a member of both camps, but welcome in neither. I call myself a liberal evangelical. I groove on the evangelical fervor of bringing people into the faith and helping those already within it to go deeper, really deeper. I also groove on the progressive voice of Christianity, the one that draws the circle so wide that there are no outsiders.
For those in the church who are hell-bent on polarization, and reducing our sometimes complicated stories into soundbites that can be used for one agenda or the other, I am an enigma. Becuase my story doesn't fit their preconceived notions of what works to futher their causes, I am ridiculed (at best) or ignored (at worst).
I'm feeling kinda lonely in this place but I am confident it is the right place to be.
pax [+]
