Into What are We Being Formed?

by Alex Kim

The world’s really moved away from being direct and forward. How often are commercials telling us to actually go out and buy something? I think the advertising professionals are onto something here: people don’t like being told what to do overtly. So, they’ve figured out another way to get us to do what they want us to do. They tell me that this phone is cool and everyone has one, and so the expectation is that maybe I’ll get one too.

It worked.

I have an iPhone 6S Plus. I didn’t buy into the hype at first and this is the first time I got an iPhone since they came out with these things. But they beat me down. How long does it take to make pulled pork in a slow cooker? Too dang long if you ask me, but look at how tender it comes out in the end. If they can get to someone like me, do you think you are safe from all of this?

So all we know so far is that I’d be terrible at writing commercials and I take way too long to make a point. Seriously, though, we are not prepared right now.

But we can be.

Even people that aren’t necessarily going to buy the latest iPhone are going to have an opinion that new phones are cool. Sure, maybe you have no interest in buying that Porsche (or designer bag), but it’s still a cool thing to have, right? (Objection, leading question).

But I guess maybe you really don’t think these things are cool.

Maybe you live under a rock.

Maybe you’re lying.

We’ve been conquered by a culture that tells us these things or qualities are what we should model our lives after. We have been killed by a thousand cuts and tenderized by steady, low heat.

But wait, when do we ever take the time to stop and think about these things?

I think this is one of the most beautiful things about where we stand today with the church plant.

We have stopped.

We are taking the time.

We have the chance now to build this thing anew.

(My sentences got longer little by little as if I’m building something. Thumbs up for painfully unoriginal syntax.)

This is the conversation I’ve been having with people. If we decided to leave OCCEC and all we’re doing is exactly the same as what we were doing before, then what was the point of leaving?

I’m not trying to say that we somehow entirely abandon who we grew to be at OCCEC. Using the seed metaphor, or I guess any metaphor involving the passing of genes, so really even a metaphor about ourselves could work as well, we are inevitably going to retain some elements of where we came from (the tree, OCCEC). And that’s more than fine, because our faiths did grow in these past many (or few) years as the consequence of our time there.

But we still need to look at how a seed grows (or people, I guess–talk about an unnecessary metaphor). You’re going to have water, fertilizer maybe, and the right location and temperature.

To put it another way, as Irene did, is to think of culture as the “Nurture” in Nature vs. Nurture. Our natures, or inherent abilities, are just a starting point. The type of nurturing we receive orients the direction in which we develop.

So then it becomes clear why culture is so important.

Yeah, we come from a certain place and there are significant ways in which we have been shaped by the past. But it’s not like we’re final products, and we have unimaginable potential for growth. You can be the greatest seed that came from the awesomest tree, but you’re not going to survive without adequate water, sunlight, and etc.

I set off to write about all of the “bad” culture we had as OCCEC so we can talk about how we can be different. I’m thinking I don’t need to do that, though. If you’re reading this, I know we’re all in this together and that you’re serious about following God into something bigger than ourselves. Into what are we being formed?

You tell me.

But please tell me that we didn’t leave behind a bunch of people who love us and a very very comfortable place to keep being what we already are.

Let’s let God form us into something beautiful.