Mike's musings

Syncretism

We're supposed to be doing a joint blog on syncretism today: the extent to which the church marries itself with the "secular" world around it. In fact, both the signs I've seen today have been very positive, and I'd like to share them.

I went to a large mall in Mississauga: SquareOne. It's enormous, and I managed to get lost several times as I wandered around, trying to find a place to get my watch-strap replaced. What signs did I see of the church?

The first was a large sign, covering most of a pillar, advertising church services at a local Lutheran church. It was not out of place: it was another advertisement, and a sign that the church had embraced the methods of the secular world to put its message across. It wasn't corny, or demeaning, or cringe-worthy: it just invited people to church. No more, no less.

The second was simple. In North America, particularly, the Christmas season is very important for the Salvation Army. It's a major collecting time, and they also do lots of good work for the homeless and marginalised. At one of the intersections of the mall, there was a plastic, see-through ball with money in it, simply labelled as for the Salvation Army. There may have been some literature around, but if there was, it wasn't in-your-face. Next to it, there were two young women, sitting, chatting to each other. They were in fashionable clothes, and at least one of them had dyed hair and a lip piercing. They acknowledged my donation with a nod and a thankyou, and just carried on talking. It was a very natural expression of church and Christ in the everyday, and the women didn't seem "other" at all, except for their presence in the vicinity of the collection. They were people who seemed to have embraced the world, but made commitment to church at the same time. And that's pretty much as good as it gets. Or that's how it feels for now.

Labels: advertisement, blogging, salvation army, syncretism