I have gotten it all wrong.
What I have thought of identity..of who I am, of who others are, has been proven wrong…
Salvation is much more than a rescue.We do obtain identity through relationship. It is not all of what identifies us as individuals, but it is profoundly significant.
And it is not merely the fact of relationship, that we have them, nor is it the nature of individual relationships, but it is the significance of the relationships that guides, forms, and molds who we are…our overall self.
God, in his wisdom, reserved the primary relationship as the one with himself, and yet, without the relationships of others, especially the significant relationships..especially parents or parental surrogates…our relationship with God suffers.
Our culture venerates our individualism. We are bent on self-improvement, self-image, self-discovery, and even self construction or reconstruction. We are told we can make of ourselves anything that we want. Our culture even says that self is so important that it is better to let a criminal go free than have the possibility of an innocent self to be unjustly punished. Self is more important than community. Is it any wonder we have the division we have today in the good ‘ole USA? When this overarching culture of self is superimposed upon the Church, and we unknowingly think it is good theology, we have a problem. An entire culture of self assimilates the Church…the body of Christ…
The system is admirably suited to achieve the results–an ineffective and hypocritical Church, supposedly concerned about others (even the heathens know that’s what Christ is about) when we are so infinitely submerged in ourselves–going to church to be comfortable, to feel better, to get strokes, to feel self important, to feed our own hungry egos.
We have no space for others. The spaces in our lives are filled with us…there is no room for those who think differently, whether it be politically, religiously, culturally, scientifically, etc.
Here we have this remarkable diversity of viewpoints and talents, the miraculous and incredible parts of the body of Christ, completely dissected and being stored in isolated jars of preservative. The formaldehyde of individualism stinking up the church, protecting us from community responsibility and challenge, anestheticizing relationship and shaming the Christ we supposedly love.
How could I be so blind? How can we miss it so far? Why can’t we get beyond our tunnel vision?
Just random thoughts…
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