Larry, Pomo and Curly or... We Are Not a Cowboy

This was actually a comment to Greg's blog, but I feared of where it was heading and how fat it might get, so I moved over and decided to blog myself. So, ya gotta read them both. (stream of consciousness...)
Of course, the clash of Mo and PoMo is much greater in the Christian community where Mo has so often confused methods with doctrine and where the sacred and secular are differentiated by style. This is probably why I'm intrigued, but convinced, that some of the things you mentioned as your favorite modern accomplishments are specific things that many (most?) modern Christians would regret having accomplished. That, of course, is a case of throwing the baby out with the bath, which is exactly what mo wants to do with pomo.
Its always easier just to completely chunk something that has gone awry than it is to actually try to make it what it once was or was meant to be. I'm so glad that the original moderns didn't just frown at what the church had become and convert to some other religion. It was hard work, but they set out to make it what it was meant to be rather than leave it. Well then, here we go again. Look what it's become.
Of course premo reacted to mo with excommunication and worse, but eventually had a big long 14 year meeting in which they intentionally set about working on some of the stuff that had caused mo to react. (I know that this is very simplistic, but they did emerge less apprehensive to change.) This meeting was fairly thorough because they didn't do it again for another 400 years. Now this too, is simplistic, but I have to say that to stream my consciousness in the right direction. The direction is this, Most churches make drastic occasional changes that reflect years of culture development & incorporate already outdated styles & methods when they could easily be rolling with cultural evolution. When a church makes a decision to change, it consciously inserts itself into a period of cultural time and then sits there like a redneck with a mullet while the rest of the culture continues change. Usually, it has taken this amount of time for the church to see the evolution and therefore, they see it as a cultural "shift". They, then, feel that this change has brought us to where we will be rather than another point along the road to where we're going. Eventually, the need will be noticed again and a “change” will implemented that is intended to update the way we “do” and look. It won’t look and feel real though, because since our last intentional “change”, we missed all the subtle shifts, and shades of evolution that brought culture to where it is at the moment we notice our irrelevance. So we put on our cowboy suit and climb up on the bull, never having ridden before. We’re the only ones who don’t notice that we are not a cowboy.
We don't recognize evolution as it happens, but only when we've reached a point in which we no longer recognize where we are or where we should be. We then sit down and try to figure out where we should be, go there, and wait until culture has moved far enough away for us to notice again.

©2003 rod lewis