Why is every one today talking about community? Because it is so rare in American culture.
America has been built around the concept of the rugged, self-sufficient, pull yourselves up by your bootstraps, individual. Immigrants came over to the US, leaving family behind--and they didn't even have a pony! (That is for the Sienfeld fans) Americans threw off oppressive governments and oppressive church leaders (kings and bishops). The Bill of Rights was added to the US Constitution to protect the individual.
Americans conquered the West, traveling YEARS across the country to go to Oregon, Utah, and California. There were no cell phones. No running water. No toilets. No Wal-Mart or Home Depot. No Fuzzy's tacos.
And we have made the lone ranger literally into a hero of mythic proportions. The Lone Ranger lives apart from society, saves society with heroic deeds--and yet, never can live in society. Who can or wants to be an "Organization Man?" (For a sociological analysis of individualism, including the Lone Ranger analysis above, see Habits of the Heart.)
Technology now has made this individual phenomenon potentially worse (also potentially better). We have our own individualized music stations, Ipods, Hulu settings, Facebook accounts, email, blogs, etc. We can put our earphones on, go through the self-checkout line and never interact with the people in the stores we frequent. Few know their neighbors--and why try when you or they are just going to move away in a few months. No one goes to the movies anymore--we stay at home and watch movies on Netflix, or increasingly, by download.
And we take all of this cultural understanding of life into our spiritual lives. We have made church an individual affair. People church hop to find their own personal settings of how they want worship to be like. We are in our own private worlds in worship. We even would rather have our own aisle seat rather than sit next to someone--voting for personal freedom over friendship every time. "Don't talk to me during communion--I'm in private meditation." Accountability? "Don't ask me about my spiritual life, buddy. Butt out--it's my business." is the attitude. We don't even know how to talk about our faith, we are so wrapped up in our own world. The spiritual sicknesses that this engenders include:
We show by our choices what we really believe. And our choices show that we value our freedom and individuality above community, friendship, and spiritual growth.
The church today must recognize the reality of individualism. On the positive side, we should customize spiritual growth paths that hit a person right where he or she is. This takes time and goes far beyond mass class offerings. On the other hand, we should challenge people to be in community, to challenge and be challenged by others in the spiritual walk, and to sacrifice his or her wants for others. The church that manages to merge the best of both individualism and community serves to be both culturally aware and biblically on target, and likely will grow.
Do you agree or disagree with the above thoughts on individualism? How do you see it negatively impacting our society, Christians, and the church?
Comment
That doesn't surprise me. By the way, I hope I didn't throw your question too far afield. I was trying to keep it on topic, but I'm not sure how good a job I did.
Adrienne, Pat Buchanan was roasted on Hardball the other time for saying that he understood why voting was originally limited to landowners who had a vested stake in the community. Land ownership, ducation or any other requirements for voting would not go over today, for sure.
You asking me? ;) I don't know the background of the authors of that book, but most Americans in the late 18th century feared monarchy. The presidency, actually, was a far weaker position than it is now. (You can thank Jackson and FDR for that.) But they were afraid that the "people" weren't ready to determine the direction of the nation without the help of people who were more educated - or wealthy enough to be disinterested. (I'd love to see how that would play now.)
But I definitely see this in some church hierarchical structures. If we misinterpret the role of elders to assume they are akin to the High Council or something like that, I think it would look very similar. But I'm not sure this is so much an American thing as a human tendency toward assuming authority. Power corrupts....
Adrienne, I love getting a historian's perspective! You are right, certainly, about the American pioneers. They eventually settled in a community. They desperately needed one another! But we often buy into the myth with our daily choices.
Speaking of history . . . In Habits of the Heart, the authors make the point that pure democracy was looked down upon by the Founders. They intentionally included monarchy (President), aristocracy (Senate), and democracy (House of Representatives) in a democratic republic. How much of this have we incorporated into our understandings of the church and church leadership. Is this good or bad?
Do I agree? Well... yes and no. :) What's so funny is that the individualism that has taken on "mythic" proportions is exactly that - a myth. While by the late 19th century Americans championed the idea of pulling oneself up by one's own bootstraps, one of the first thing most early Americans did when they moved west was find - or create - new communities (including churches). They recognized their mutual need. Women in particular had a hard time functioning without other women to survive, for a variety of reasons. Yet we tend to set aside this reality to focus on the lone cowboy out on the open range (who, ironically, tended to work for a company and travel in groups). Sorry, I'm a historian; I'm forced to think about such things for a living.
That having been said, there's a strong theme in American history about the rights of the individual. I think it's inherent in the concept of independence - I don't need you; I can fend for myself. If taken out of context - or simply redefined, as it has been since 1776 - it can wreak havoc on government, economics, and faith - particularly a faith founded upon the parallel ideas of man's need and God's sufficiency. (Just one of many reasons why I tend to be leery of civil religion as it's so often manifested; it substitutes man's power - frequently but not exclusively military - for God's sovereignty. But that's off topic.) Plus you also have the other repercussions you listed above.
Have I muddied the waters enough?
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