Individualism

Popping my bubble

in ,
The past three days I have been immersed in mid-terms for school, and I have come to realize something.

I have been so immersed in my own life and my own little world that I have been oblivious to much of the world around me. Paying attention to the world around me is where I get 99% of what I post about, and when I am in my own bubble, I am without inspiration.

What I am concerned about is if these past three days for me are a microcosm of our greater culture (I know that is a bit arrogant to claim but I already have confessed my own messiah complex).

If we all are moving toward a more individualized culture choosing to live in our bubble and not being aware of other people's bubbles, will the world ever change?

I was at a stop light and saw a fella with ear buds listening to his Ipod. When the light turned green he did not move, unaware of the light change until it was yellow. He and the care behind him were the only ones to get through the light.

I was at Chipotle and the guy in front of me was into his Blackberry that when it was his 'turn' to order he was totally unresponsive while the line out the door was trying to get a quick lunch on their lunch hour.

I put my nose in several books looking for responses to mid-term questions and became unaware of my surroundings. I just found out about Jessie Logan, the Chinese/American naval stand off, and President Obama's reversal of former President Bush's stance on Stem Cell research.

What else have I been unaware of? What opportunities have I missed to serve, love and share grace these past few days?

I gotta pop my bubble.

Got sad on the way to Oklahoma

in , ,
I saw a church sign on the side of I-35 while driving up to Oklahoma for Christmas celebrations with my family-in-law (I was told over the break that some of that family reads this, to them I say hello and you should do something better with your time other than reading this garble). The sign was upsetting to me because it seemed to epitomize the both the prosperity gospel and the individualism of our culture:

"Unto YOU a child is given"

Of course this an alteration of the Scripture which is most frequently known from the "Messiah" which says, "Unto US a child is given."

I know many people will not think this is a big deal and I know this matters very little to the majority of people. However the change from "us" to "you" is another bit of evidence that Christianity, which has a very strong communitarian tone in the entire Bible/tradition, is being influenced by the western ideal of individualism and independence.

I know the argument could be made the "YOU" is plural (such as in the Texan word "Y'all") however I do not believe this is what most people driving by this sign would interpret. In fact most of the time when our bibles say "you" they really me "y'all" but we read "you" and think "me". For instance...

1 Corinthians 3:16 says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"

I have seen this scripture used to talk about many things ranging from sexuality to smoking, but it is always used to talk about how God dwells in "you" individually. But the thing is Paul is not saying "You" as individuals, rather he is saying "You" as in "Y'all". This teaching has been removed from the communitarian and interpreted as personal. When that happens the text changes meaning.

Back to the sign on I-35.

Unto YOU a child is given or unto US a child is given?

I think the pronoun matters.