Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Changing Things
Kruse Kronicle recently looked at a trend in moder thinking:
We always want the easy answers. It is easy to affect government, at least in comparison to the other alternatives so we also fall into the "government=society" trap, despite the fact that such is essentially antithetical to our won beliefs.
We have a much harder calling than just passing legislation or electing individuals - anybody with energy can do that. No, our calling is to change people. Not harness them for some greater purpose, but to genuinely change them so that they harness themselves to that greater purpose.
As Kruse points out, it is God's intention that the family be the primary agent of such change. This makes a lot of sense - forming people is best done when they are young, and the family is the best tool ever invented to form people.
But what do we do in a society where the family is not what it used to be? I would suggest the church needs to learn how, once again, to be family in a larger context. Not a political action committee, not a provider of services, but a genuine family. This means a few things. Congregations will have limits on size, families cannot be numbered in the 1000's. This means less program and more relationship.
I also know this, to make a family work, the individuals in the family need to be the best individuals they can be. If we want to reverse the trends we see in our society, and I for one do, we need to start with ourselves. we need to allow Christ to transform us. This will in turn reflect in our families, and the circle will widen.
It will require patience, and it will be hard, but it will be real change, genuine change, God's change.
Technorati Tags:change, society, government, family
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
Frequently we hear that society has a responsibility to the poor. Most Christians of all stripes would agree. But listen to the sentence that often follows such a declaration. It goes something like this, “Therefore, ‘society’ should raise the minimum wage, grant universal healthcare, and redistribute wealth through taxation.” Notice the common theme. They are all government imposed solutions. Why not respond, “Therefore, ‘society’ should find ways to create stable families, get churches and volunteer organizations involved in the lives of the poor, and lend money to the poor through microenterprise funds.” This isn’t an “either/or” proposition. Rather it highlights that the default solutions for too many Christians: Government. Non-governmental non-bureaucratic solutions are an afterthought, secondary in importance, if they come to mind at all. This is the functional equivalent of saying “government” is “society.”How do we as Christians change our society?
In reality, government is only one institution of society. Society includes individuals. It includes other institutions like the family, churches, volunteer organizations, businesses, and a variety of local governments. It includes countless informal networks. Society is much broader than government.
At the core of the Old Testament notion of justice and care in society was the family. The family was encompassed by a clan, then by a tribe, and then by the nation. Each succeeding level of distance from the family played ever more limited roles in the daily operations of the family.
We always want the easy answers. It is easy to affect government, at least in comparison to the other alternatives so we also fall into the "government=society" trap, despite the fact that such is essentially antithetical to our won beliefs.
We have a much harder calling than just passing legislation or electing individuals - anybody with energy can do that. No, our calling is to change people. Not harness them for some greater purpose, but to genuinely change them so that they harness themselves to that greater purpose.
As Kruse points out, it is God's intention that the family be the primary agent of such change. This makes a lot of sense - forming people is best done when they are young, and the family is the best tool ever invented to form people.
But what do we do in a society where the family is not what it used to be? I would suggest the church needs to learn how, once again, to be family in a larger context. Not a political action committee, not a provider of services, but a genuine family. This means a few things. Congregations will have limits on size, families cannot be numbered in the 1000's. This means less program and more relationship.
I also know this, to make a family work, the individuals in the family need to be the best individuals they can be. If we want to reverse the trends we see in our society, and I for one do, we need to start with ourselves. we need to allow Christ to transform us. This will in turn reflect in our families, and the circle will widen.
It will require patience, and it will be hard, but it will be real change, genuine change, God's change.
Technorati Tags:change, society, government, family
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
