Another blog from Seminole Heights
Seminole Heights resident Rick Bennett (also of Bennett Family photos blog) has another blog called cheaper than therapy . He says" it usually does not focus on Tampa. It focuses on religion, politics, pop culture, etc, but lately a few things have been more appropriate for Tampa."
He also featured in an recent article about home churches in the Tampa Tribune.
Rick has an interesting post Jesus of Suburbia that references another interesting post in another blog.
"After decades of this suburban lifestyle America is left with families split by divorce, kids leaving in rebellion, and millions on various drugs to relieve the emptiness as the idolized family turns out to be a myth. Apart from the personal destruction the suburbs can bring, suburban isolation also poses a real problem for the spreading of the gospel." And "If hospitality is to be a central way of life for the spreading of the gospel, the alienation of the suburbs is a condition of our exile we must overcome" and "Inviting someone over for dinner in the hostile suburbs is regularly considered pathological. Suburban people are either too busy, too self-protected, or too worried what your agenda might be to ever come over. "
Half jokingly I've come to the conclusion that the modern suburbs is the work of the devil. The modern suburbs, with porchless houses and life focused on the privacy fenced backyard, curvy culdesac roads (that breed isolationism) that are miles and miles from the place of employment and shopping areas (thus wasting gasoline) could be called essentially evil. You might say these are godless areas.
Compare this to Seminole Heights. This is the land of God. Everywhere you look there are churches and temples. Big ones, small ones, elaborate ones, home based ones, storefront ones, stand alone complexes. Then throw in a few cemetaries and funeral homes with their religious imagery. Try driving anywhere in the city without running into a place of God. In the suburbs the churches are isolated as are the people.
For these same reasons I have a big beef about these Megachurches in the suburbs. Again half jokingly I think they too might be the work of the devil. How far does someonhave to drive to get to them? How much resources are being sucked out of smaller urban churches by these large surburban churches? How many of these urban churches died because of the megachurches?
3 comments:
Just keep in mind if thirty percent of the reseidents of Tampa decided to go to church? and or synagogue in one weekend every church in Tampa would be forced to turn people away. I belong to that mega church. We have the resource to be open 12 to 14 hours a day seven days a week to go beyond Sunday service and serve all aspect s of the need s of this great communitites. Mega churches ahve the resource sto help the needy and downtroden that the smaller churches only wish they had in fact we even assist the smaller churches and their members.......
Such boasting, such hubris, are these Christian qualities? Perhaps you should reflect before making such claims.
These posts are very interesting and I must say I am suprised to see them on this blog. I have always been bothered by the "going to church" mentality as in contrast to "being the church." Going to church is much like the Jewish tradition when the Temple still stood in Jerusalem where one had to go to make the sacrifices and to offer one's tithes. How often has Jesus' words to the Samaritian woman been lost that worship, service, and faith were not dependent on a location that you went to. Institutionalized church has promoted a sense of arrogance, self-righteousness, judgement, and lazy faith. There is a pervasive absence of true humility. On a daily basis professing christians in effect take to the public square shouting and praying "thank God I am not like that sinner" over there. And they walk by the poor, the needy, the friendless, etc. to cheap to even offer a kind word or a smile...because they gave to their church and they have a committee for that...
They are also usually the first to give a "do" and "don't" list.
How sad that the only judgements that Jesus gave were to the rich, the powerful, and the hypocrites.
Those people will also be the first to try to discredit this perspective.
Maybe efforts to de-institutionalize christianity will restore it to the faith that once converted an empire with out carrying a gun in Jesus' name or legislating its tenents into laws.
A religion more concerned with humility and service than power over people, laws and governments.
...when I go into churches, I often wonder if anyone has seen my Jesus (I usually meet a few who have)
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