alexis in the city

missional vs. evangelical

my alumni magazine had this great article on the emerging missional movement and the difference between it and the evangelical movement that swept the church in the ’90s - and whose effects we continue to experience. i think the article did a really good job of presenting both sides and explaining the need for a little bit of both. i acknowledge this need (to evangelize as well as minister relevantly in our communities), but there is a large part of me that has a bitter taste in my mouth related to evangelicalism as defined by many of the churches i’ve come in contact with. i’ve explained the theological, biblical and political reasons why i’ve departed from a predominately evangelical worldview in previous posts, so i’m not seeking to make this an exhaustive argument for missional over evangelical.

i’ve always been turned off by the outward-facing, recruit-more-people megachurches that seemed to arise as a result of evangelicalism. of course this may have something to do with the fact that growing up, each time we moved, my parents seemed to systematically seek out churches that met in schools, community centers, strip malls and the like. considering i’ve moved close to two dozen times in my life, i can just about count the number of “normal” brick-and-mortar churches i went to on one hand. (when i seriously examine my upbringing, i wonder if i had any choice but to turn out the way i did, on so many levels!)

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never ask a lady her age

i’ve discovered that there are two things i grew up thinking it was rude to ask a complete stranger, but are actually socially acceptable (apparently):

1). how much is your rent?

2) how old are you?

living in a city where rent prices are a popular dinner conversation topic, i’ve gotten comfortable talking about it - with friends AND strangers - and it doesn’t bother me any more. (though i still her my mom’s “tut, tut” in the back of my head!) the second one, however, continues to throw me for a loop. i was at a marketing conference today and i got asked TWICE how old i was. i get that i’m young and the question usually comes after people find out i’m married. it’s probably a snap reaction, especially in a city where the average marriage age is definitely closer to 30 than 20. (and, from first-hand experience, I would not recommend getting married when you’re closer to 20 than 30, but i digress!)

it never ceases to amaze me when someone i’ve jut met point blank asks me my age. and i have yet to come up with a clever answer. sometimes i say i’m in my 20’s, sometimes i just say i’m young. sometimes i blurt out my actual age out of sheer surprise. i try not to get too snarky with people i just met - i reserve that for my close friends :-)

i am more than an “s”

i hate that i’m a mrs. i don’t hate being married but i hate that who i am can be reduced to one tiny letter on the front of an envelope. let’s face it: “s” is the only thing differentiating me from ryan when we get things addressed to “mr and mrs ryan waggoner.”

i’m sure i’m over-reacting and i’m sure it shouldn’t bother me, but it does. a lot. it’s one more way that we conform to the constructs of a pre-feminist, patriarchial society without even realizing it. and - while i’d like to say my anger is directed toward the injustices revealed by this contruct and then subsequently enforced upon all women - (although that is the cause of some of my emotion), this is rooted in a far baser reaction: i am perturbed on a personal level.

let’s set aside the fact that i feel waaaaay too young for anyone to call me “mrs.” or the fact that i kept my original name. if we must do the mr. and mrs. thing and we must use only one last name, is it REALLY too much to ask to include MY name in there? i mean, i would be happy with a simple “mr and mrs ryan and alexis waggoner.” (see that - i don’t even care if ryan’s name is listed first. that much. although i think it should be alphabetical … but whatever.)

i know most people don’t even THINK about these kinds of things, so i don’t take it personally when i get something addressed to me as an “s.” i’m not frustrated with the person that sent it, i’m frustrated with the length of time it takes our habits and constructs as a society to be deconstructed and reconstructed differently and more effectively.

“jesus for president” and a reconstruction of faith

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

~mahatma gandhi

i mentioned earlier that my computer meltdown ate the lengthy post i was composing on my latest read, “jesus for president” by shane claiborne and chris haw. while that quelled my desire to re-hash my thoughts for quite a while, it may have had a beneficial effect in that it gave me more time to mull things over, think about my opinions, talk with people, and dissect the book. in the comments of my last related post, my friend curtis pointed out that it seems that shane supposes the premise that christians should be pacificsts. and he does in a way, but the book is also devoted in large part to investigating the reasons WHY this should be our conclusion. but let me start at the beginning, in as much as i’m able. i knew i was going to like the book - at least a little! - when it started like this:

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the outcry over obama’s muslim miscalculation is missing the point

Be conscious of God and speak always the truth

~ the koran

president obama used this statement in his speech in cairo last week - but then he also said in an interview prior to the speech that america was home to around 8 million muslims, making it one of the countries with the highest muslim populations.

truth: these numbers are hard to pin down. i found an interesting round-up of stats on politifact.com which states:

The Islamic Information Center, a group that educates people in the United States about Islam, says there are upwards of 8 million. And NationMaster.com, a Web site that allows users to compare different countries based on demographics, pegs the number at 6 million. … By the [CIA] World Factbook’s count, Muslims in the United States make up about .6 percent of the population. That’s around 1.8 million.

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