I was ruminating this afternoon, on the topic of Personal Space. A friend and I were speaking the other day and he mentioned a verse in Psalms that directs believers to greet each other with holy kisses. He said, quite tongue in cheek, "I'm sorry but I'm not going to kiss anyone in my church but my wife and kids." I laughed because I had seen some of the people he went to church with.
At the same moment I realized that my pastor always ends his services by telling everyone, "there's an offering plate somewhere in the back if you feel like giving. Greet each other with holy kisses and hugs before you leave."
The connotation was so different I didn't recognize that it was the same verse being referenced. To be honest I didn't even know my pastor was quoting a scripture. That's got something to do with it. It's so natural when my pastor says it, but when you view it as an average evangelical American--like my friend and I were--it's a strange request.
Personal space, or proximics, is always a cultural thing. I'm told that the French regard the outside of your clothes as the boundary of your being, where Arabs and Asians view the outside of your body as public property and we Americans like a few feet of imaginary bubble around us.
If you haven't yet seen , "Whale Rider," its a great movie. There's a scene in it where two Maori men, a father and son, embrace and rub noses in greeting. The actors are Maori and I dare say American actors couldn't pull it off. It's too intimate without being romantic. Two big burly guys might hug and look fairly natural, but to take each others faces in their hands and pull there noses together?
Well it all got me thinking. I saw a news feature a few weeks ago about how swine flew was impacting churches. Several Portland area churches had stopped directing there members to shake hands. Some had gone to "air fives," and others to a ridiculous "fellowship elbow bump."
One must wonder if the God who restored sight to the blind and made the lame to walk, might also protect his followers from the flue if they were to embrace each other in accordance with a scriptural directive.
Just wondering. Either way, what does our proximics say about our Christian culture?
Introduction
A few decades ago C. S. Lewis wrote a pretty radical book called, “Mere Christianity.” In it, he makes a very good point. That it’s not about Christianity and vegetarianism or Christianity and submersion baptism, etc. it’s just about Christ.
The Apostle Paul, who is perhaps our major source for explaining what is and is not Christian, made an ironically similar comment. In Corinthians 2:2 he wrote, “I came unto you determined to know nothing, but Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.” The purpose of this site is to strip away the walls of denominationalism, or culture and let people of radically differing ideas rest a bit. I’m going to invite a few friends to post here with the intention opening it up as a moderated forum in a few weeks. Our goal is to inspire each other and the occasional visitor with pure, simple intimacy with God.
These are my belief statements, there is only 2 in keeping with the theme of this site.
My belief statements:
- That everyone sins and falls short of what God intended for them.
- That Jesus Christ is the son of God, born human, and though he lived without sin he died to pay the price for our sin.
Friday, January 22, 2010
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