Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Is "Fast" really good?

I am reading "Death By Church" by Mike Erre. In an early chapter he speaks about the McDonalization process found in churches in America. The first characteristic in this process is EFFECIENCY (finding the best means to achieve a particular end so that other consumers can be served). Think about it for moment.

Is Jesus effecient? Is the Church in America called to be effecient? Are we promoting "Fast" as a good thing? Hummm???

In parenting, I know that "fast" is not always good. It takes lots of time to help mold a child and prepare for life in American Culture. Part of our parenting plan is to teach how to do laundry, dishes, shopping, cooking, living in community (keeping your space clean), budgeting, hard work for money, sacrifice and giving. Not one of these lessons are QUICK!

If it takes a long time to teach these types of values to children, then what makes me think that I can follow Jesus in 1-minute/day? I can, but it will be a feeble attempt and the relationship will be as strong as 1-minute can yield.

For David Coyne, I am committed to trying to remove the "effiecient" Jesus from my life and have a relationship with Him and others that is not so Fast. That means I am committing my time and energy to the process of following Jesus. That means I choose to invest time in other people that may or may not choose to live like me, but that's not the point. The point is to BE WITH other people in this life.

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