This Is Our City

I have to be honest, I am pleasantly surprised at the comments on this post. There's actual dialogue and discussion. BTW, I agree that this is middle class naval-gazing. I get that we feel disconnected, but I am unsure that spending more on our churches and church property is the answer to that.

I agree with Rick Dalbey. This is liberal claptrap. The author stated "The very things we aspire to—the big suburban plots, the double garage, the two cars—the goals of middle-class life are easily the very things that get in the way of human flourishing." Yet, does not describe precisely HOW these "middle class" concerns are so damaging to "human flourishing." Sounds like he'd prefer a commune to a household with a regular (& generous) nuclear family. If anything, we lack a theology of the nuclear family and its valuable contributions, and a theology of organic church (house church). WE ARE the church, WE ARE Israel. Wherever we are. We are reponsible for planting and raising our families to be well-rounded, wholesome, virtuous, and well-connected servants of God. The best way to be connected is to know those around you, geographically. The inner cities are in decay: precisely because of the splintering of the nuclear family...because the state has replaced the father-role for kids.

I don't know if the author of this article intended for it's title to be as telling as it is, but the "crisis" of place, if there is such a thing, is certainly middle-class. The poor haven't the time or means to be concerned about place, and the wealthy, well, they can be in whatever place they want to be in just a few hours.

As an extreme introvert my eyes glaze over on stories like this. But even I must admit a longing for place, especially in the church where it seems like people pass through like parts on a factory conveyor belt. I was in one church where nearly the entire congregation turned over in five years. Pastors, as well, seem to come and go with the wind. Churches that struggle to find a permanent physical place seem to bleed people each time they move. That can't be healthy. Sure, there are times when it's right to move, but I think we might be too casual about our sense of place in the community.

It is very interesting to read this article from the point of view of a third-culture person, i.e., one who experienced the crisis of place both at home and away, and who, as a Christian, had to come to terms with the whole issue of place (almost the first question one is asked in the U.S. is "Where are you from?"). Community is not equal to place, but place can and does encourage community and worship and service etc. It would be good to see responses from Christian architects and urban planners...