I wonder if there have been times in church history when the gospel narrative was this gripping a cultural phenomenon. People probably wouldn't be this crazy about Harry Potter if they had all grown up in a context where they had heard the Harry Potter stories so much that they no longer seemed fresh. The challenge for us in a post-Christendom era is that people have become anesthetized to the Christian story. They've heard it already, or they think they've heard it already. And it doesn't capture their imagination the way today's imaginative narratives have. In a world of Harry Potter, Star Wars, 24, and Heroes, it's hard for the Christian story to compete.Read the whole piece here...and this on being community in the suburbs...
And the best way for suburban Christians to build community is to recover the practice of hospitality. Charity notes, "Hospitality can be as traditional as inviting neighbors over for a meal, or as radical as creating new neighbors by inviting missionaries or a struggling family to temporarily share your home. Hsu also suggests things like sharing lawn equipment or transforming personal space, like garages, into community space for neighborhood gatherings. Mostly, I've heard that hospitality is creating space in my life to share with other people. When my home, my hands, and my heart are available, I can help build community."...more of this here.
Al Hsu, author of The Suburban Christian, is an editor at Intervarsity Press and AN ANGLICAN, God bless him!
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