INTO THE WILDERNESS
“So God led the people by the roundabout way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea.”
Exodus 13:18
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
Corrie Ten Boom
The church has entered into a wilderness. It is not a wilderness of our making, nor did we enter this wilderness of our own volition. None-the-less, we are now embarked on a wilderness journey. This wilderness is the post Christian world we live in. It is a wilderness of disestablishment; a wilderness of indifference; a wilderness of rapidly dwindling membership, a wilderness of ignorance of the basics of Christianity; a wilderness of lack of theological coherence.
Exodus 13:18
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
Corrie Ten Boom
The church has entered into a wilderness. It is not a wilderness of our making, nor did we enter this wilderness of our own volition. None-the-less, we are now embarked on a wilderness journey. This wilderness is the post Christian world we live in. It is a wilderness of disestablishment; a wilderness of indifference; a wilderness of rapidly dwindling membership, a wilderness of ignorance of the basics of Christianity; a wilderness of lack of theological coherence.
Indeed some take the issue further. Walter Dan Burham has remarked, “The American Culture clearly and remarkably unraveled form the mid-1960s onward.”[1] While the old has unraveled, to some degree much of the old – segregation, restricted roles for women, etc. – needed (and still do need) to be jettisoned. The change is not necessarily bad. Furthermore, regardless of how one views current reality, the matter is clear. The old mainline Protestant churches have entered into a time of wilderness wanderings. We are moving from the temple of the familiar to the adventure of the wilderness.
We have entered the post-Christendom wilderness of disestablishment. A recent page in my local newspaper illustrates our disestablishment. Seven articles were carried in the Saturday, December 10th edition of the San Antonio Express-News inside the first section of the paper. The banner headline read: “L. A. archdiocese close to settling 45 sex suits with $60 million.”[2] Four of the other six “Briefs” articles related to the disestablishment of the old mainline Protestantism cultural religious hegemony. They read as follows: “Nevada cemetery holds first Wiccan plaque.”[3] The story detailed the placing of a Wiccan religious symbol in the Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery in memory of an Army sergeant killed in Afghanistan. “California pastor charged in killing.”[4] A pastor was charge with killing an elderly friend in order to gain access to a $4 million dollar trust. “No Holy Family in small town.”[5] City authorities of a small West Virginia community had decided that the town’s Christmas holiday display would have a manger with shepherds, a guiding star, camels and a palm tree, but no Jesus, Mary or Joseph. “The parks superintendent said Jesus was left out because of concerns about the separation of church and state.”[6] And the crowning comically sad symbol of cultural irrelevance the last article was headlined: “Bingo-crazed granny guilty of running dope.”[7] The article related the conviction of an Arizona grandmother on charges of marijuana smuggling in “what prosecutors said was an attempt to earn cash for a bingo habit.”[8] By themselves the articles mean little (except for the tragedy that some of them represent). Taken together they are antidotal evidence of the decline of Christian influence and status in the culture at large. There was an earlier time in the mid 20th century when a sex scandal and murder by clergy would have been unbelievable front page headlines. Taking Jesus, Mary and Joseph out of the city Christmas nativity decorations used to be unthinkable. A bingo crazed granny running dope to support her church bingo habit would be seen as amusing.
Today, they are background noise signifying a disestablished Church culture.
We no longer have a secure place or identity in the secular American culture. The casual deference that used to be ceded to the church is gone. Mainliners are greeted with perhaps the greatest curse of all. The culture and nation often react to their latest proclaim with yawning indifference. We are not longer the mainline but instead, at best, simply a sideline (and not a very interesting sideline at that!).
More on “Into the Wilderness” in the next issue
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