Christianity and Suburbia
In his blog, Reid Monaghan called my attention to this article, which is a review on two books about how to be a Christian in suburbia. So this is now a blog about a blog about a review about books. And before I talk about it, one quick caveat: I am not saying that it is better to live in or out of suburbia. God calls people everywhere. There is nothing noble about living in one place or another. So that being said, let's move on.
The book review covers a book by David Goetz, Death by Suburb, and a book by Albert Y. Hsu, called The Suburban Christian. A few excerpts from the article appear below:
So that's the plan. 8 steps, buy the more expensive coffee at Starbucks, and all is well. What if Christ actually operated this way? It might have looked like this:
Christ did not die on the cross because he bought fair-trade coffee or shopped in locally-owned stores. I think sometimes we skip right over the verse where it says that God will not be mocked. Indeed, he won't. The call of Christ is the upending of our lives, or it is nothing.
The book review covers a book by David Goetz, Death by Suburb, and a book by Albert Y. Hsu, called The Suburban Christian. A few excerpts from the article appear below:
Goetz identifies eight "environmental toxins" that plague suburbia and offers a spiritual practice to purge each toxin from your system and help you realize that "even in suburbia all moments are infused with the Sacred." By packaging his insights in this self-helpy formula—7 habits, 8 practices, 40 days to a more authentic Christian life—Goetz obviously opens himself up to criticism: this blueprint recapitulates some of the very problems of the suburban mindset that he is trying to offset. But I suspect he knew what he was doing, and chose the idiom to convey a subversive message to his target audience....
Consumerism goes hand in hand with suburban living. How can we "consume more Christianly"? Shop in locally owned stores; create holiday rituals that don't revolve around gift-giving; regularly fast, not just from food, but also from media, new technology, and new clothes; buy organic, fair-trade coffee produced by companies that don't destroy rain forests. (And if you agree with the skeptics who find the "fair-trade" crowd self-deluded, there are plenty of other ways to become a more discriminating consumer.) A basic guideline for simple living, says Hsu, is "to live at a standard of living that is below others in your income bracket. It you can afford a $400,000 house, live in a $250,000 one instead. Or, if you can afford a $250,000 house, live in a $150,000 one."
So that's the plan. 8 steps, buy the more expensive coffee at Starbucks, and all is well. What if Christ actually operated this way? It might have looked like this:
Jesus: "Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."The problem with suburban Christianity is the very message that these books preach. Christianity is not about wedging Christ into the empty space in your life on Sunday morning. It's not about requesting Christ's participation in your suburban lifestyle. It's about learning that Christ doesn't come along with you on your journey to the top of the corporate ladder. He leads, or he simply doesn't participate. The problem with these books is that they ask the wrong question: "How do I slightly change my daily actions to make them more Christ-like?" The question we should be asking is, "How can I learn to be obedient to God's calling, even if it means calling me away from lattes and picket fences altogether?"
Disciples: "Jesus, we're really slammed, and this fishing thing is really taking off."
Jesus: "Ok, well how about this. Don't worry about following me, but at least use dolphin-safe tuna nets."
Disciples: "Done deal, Jesus!"
(high fives ensue)
Christ did not die on the cross because he bought fair-trade coffee or shopped in locally-owned stores. I think sometimes we skip right over the verse where it says that God will not be mocked. Indeed, he won't. The call of Christ is the upending of our lives, or it is nothing.
posted by Tim Dees at 2:15 AM
1 Comments:
I'm glad to see you're engaging these issues of Christianity and suburbia. My basic take is that yes, suburbia does affect us in myriad ways that we don't always understand. How do we live faithfully as Christians in a suburban context? God might call some Christians to leave suburbia and live in rural, urban or global contexts. He might call others to stay put in suburbia and do what they can to live missionally and strategically here. So if we accept as a given that God needs people everywhere, including suburbia, then how do we understand suburbia on its own terms, just as we would as a missiologist or anthropologist? Once we get a better sense of how suburbia shapes us, we may well be better equipped to shape suburbia in strategic, redemptive ways.
I don't know that any of us have any easy answers for this, but I think there's certainly a difference between a self-centered suburbanism that just gets sucked into all the materialism and consumerism of suburban culture, and a Christian other-centered suburbanism that practices simplicity, generosity, hospitality, and tries to herald the presence of the kingdom of God within suburbia, as best as we can.
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