I think the Western Church has become something even worse than the “buddy of Christ” I think we’ve become the no-longer-interested-spouse of Christ. The partner who is so disengaged in the relationship that they are dissolved in apathy and not even interested in divorce but have resigned themselves to a love-less, passion-less living out the rest of their days. I don’t mean to be a doomsayer but I must say that is what strikes me when I interact with most people in normal American churches, not to mention the feeling that I get when I have to sit in a service.

This quote, from Kester Brewin’s blog really disturbed and resonated with me. Kester had a previous post about what he was calling the “buddy Christ” of Western Christianity relating it to social networking in the vein of MySpace and Facebook. His musings were about the nature of friendship and how that context works its way in ideas of faith and Christian community. I love Kester’s blog, and I just recently bought his book ‘Signs of Emergence’ which is the U.S. version of Complex Christ. I’ll probably have to wait until the holiday break in December/January to read it, but I am looking forward to reading it. In general I am finding much more affinity with the U.K. stream of emerging church than I am with what I am encountering here in the U.S. I wonder what the reasons for that are though. Certainly being at Church of the Apostles and working with Karen Ward plays a big role in that, since she also finds herself much more at home with the Brits. I also wonder if it has to do with my own angst and frustration with America and our version of Christianity.

The woman who said the quote above (I wish I knew her name or was able to link to her) is really on to something methinks. It would be easy to pick apart the quote and analyze, especially the phrase ‘normal American church’ but I am more concerned with the overall feeling that is being expressed. As someone who works hard to become and remain detached in my relationships, I am both relieved and troubled by this sense that Americans are disengaged spouses of Christ. I think she is right though. I am relieved that I am not the only one who thinks this, but yet troubled by the truth of it. I think of my family, who all attend church and believe in God. Both of those ideas are very detached though. Church is something to go to, kind of like dinner with the family. Growing up though, I got the sense much of the time that it was simply a necessary break from T.V. or some project, because if you didn’t eat and spend time with the spouse and kids, then you weren’t a real family. Belief in the Western world, we all know is almost exclusively cognitive in nature. I do believe work is being to done to reverse this, but I can’t get over this feeling that is articulated so well. Psychologically speaking, am I resonating with this because of my own fears about my own marriage and then projecting that onto the church of America? I don’t deny that I have at times been disengaged from my wife, but I am very interested and deeply in love with her, so maybe I just know what it feels like.

I am also currently reading ‘God is Not Great‘ by a journalist who, through the first few chapters, outlines why Religion Poisons Everything. He is not talking about a detached religious experience, but just the opposite. People who are so passionate about their religion that they do insidious things in the name of God. Of course for the author, Christopher Hitchens, this is the very reason why we need to get rid of God altogether along with all of our religious ideologies. Maybe I’ll go into more detail about his book in a later post, but suffice it to say having that in my head while reading the quote has really gotten my mind working.

It seems to me that amidst all of the evil that has been done in the name of God, apathy and disengagement is actually worse. How could I possibly say that apathy is worse than rape, murder, oppression, and enslavement? Maybe that is over the top. Maybe it isn’t worse. Maybe it is just a different thing altogether. It seems that when apathy arises, humanity gets stuck. Nothing moves. I think of a stail pond that just smells bad during the summer. No life to it. If this is where the church in America is headed, then what are we to do? I think this is the very question many mainliners are asking themselves and have been for the past few decades. Evangelical and Charismatic churches may not be at this place, but it is not out of the question that they will be at some point in the not too distant future. So, while I don’t know what to do with the quote above, it will sit in the pit of my soul for some time as I attempt to process it and struggle with it.