According to Frazee, the second major challenge to Christian community is isolation. He suggests, among other things, that friendships that this has promoted "contractual friendships (125-126)," which usually has to involve precise planning, leading to contrived rather than a natural friendships. Frazee's solution involves realigning our lives around neighborhood community that involves:
- Spontaneity (Spontaneous togetherness without need for constant coordination)
- Availability (Being available at all times)
- Frequency (Getting together often)
- Common Meals (sharing meals together regularly)
- Geography (living physically close to each other)
Implementing these solutions may involve such things as relocation, reducing commutes, going to a single income, simplifying life, commit to spending time together, playing in the front yard, bringing neighbors together, etc. -- The principle is - "..concentrated efforts in small geographic boundaries can produce greater results" (170).
What is your reaction to this section? Do you agree that isolation is a problem even among Christians in American culture? Are even Christian freindships of the "contractural" kind? Are Frazee's solutions realistic? How do the biblical teachings concerning community, church, fellowship, etc. shed light on these issues?
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1 comment:
My first reaction to a lot of this is that this just doesn't seem realistic. In our busy world, how can it be possible to do have the kind of community that he talks about. Then it occured to me that it is a matter of priorities. Becoming a Christian in the early church meant a complete re-alignment of priorities and life. It often meant being shunned by family, freinds, and community, but it also meant being connected to a new community as family. Maybe part of the problem is that we expect too little from Christianity. Is it possible to go to living as a one income family, to change jobs to where the commute is much less, to move to a new home that both simplifies life and enables more meaningful connections to other Christians? Yes, it is possible with great sacrifice. But are we willing to take up his cross and follow him? That is a question to explore. This level of commitment might cause some to call us a cult, but that is nothing new. Early Christians were also seen as obstinate and committed to the point of absurdity. It wasn't until Christianity became "respectable" that the commitment level started to wane. Maybe we need to step back and try to disentagle our cultural lens and see Christianity as Jesus presents it.
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