Clarity of Mind – the importance of local

I was reading the special year end issue of Adbusters magazine (Jan/Feb 2005) – The Big Ideas of 2005.

Under the title Clarity of Mind a brief reflection on mental health – “…how do you keep your mental health from crashing?...”

“By 2020, depression will become the second-leading global cause of death and disability, after heart disease.”

“People from traditional cultures increase their risk for psychological problems, including schizophrenia, by up to six times when immigrating to developed countries”

[As an aside, I wonder if people from some "traditional" churches increase their risk for psychological problems by living in a religious "bubble" rather than authentically living local, native to place...?]

The author makes the following suggestions for living healthily “in a toxic culture:”

“…What will help are simple things like

1. Not living alone…

2. Keeping close contacts with family and friends…

3. Living more fully…

4. Living in the moment…

5. Live more slowly…

6. Live more locally…”

So are there missional lessons for church and church planting?

• The importance of authentic community and friendships – deep, loving communion between people.

• The importance of communication – of keeping in touch with people, the importance of conversation, the importance of friendships. This will require us to slow down, to take our time, to honour the need for time, intentionality, and resistance in an instant, “fast-cutting,” productivity-orientated, self-gratifying culture. Church planting and community takes time, time for place and people, time for building shared experiences, for shared learning, for shared lives.

• The Gospel is about life and living…Living is about becoming more fully human after the likeness of Jesus – for fully alive to God, self, God’s creation, and each other.

• The importance of the present moment as sacrament – learning to listen deeply, learning to discern God @ work. Taking our time. Living multi-sensually. Focus on experiences rather than consuming. Feel the breeze, the warmth of the sun, the coldness. Smell. Taste. Look. Listen. Touch and be touched by place, the lives of others, needs, pain etc.

• We so need to slow down – prioriterise what’s really important over the long-term, what’s really necessary. Simplify rather than making our lives and belonging to church more complex. Live slowly in the midst of our communities – look for God @ work. Listen to the lives of others. Take time to listen too and tell stories – stories of joy and pain, of love and brokenness.

• Live locally….build connections and relationships locally, immerse yourself in the local…utilize local services and local public spaces (cafés, libraries, parks, sidewalk seats / benches, restaurants, pubs, supermarkets & shops, other gathering places. Become familiar to ones neighbours. Be present to the lives of neighbours, to locals. Be slow to import from other locales; honor context and uniqueness; listen for the local soul, the local heartbeat, the ‘spirit’ of this place rather than that place; take notice of your built environment; learn the local ‘language’ – its dialects and nuances ; listen for its stories, its symbols, and its rituals. Listen beneath the surface. Drop your agendas. Become native to this place.