This is a great piece. I saw Footlose when it first came out - I am a few years older than you! - and I loved it. Especially as a rebellious Christian; somehow the legalism never really 'bit' for me, or at least not as much as it could have done.
I remember when the main character (played by Kevin Bacon, iirc) confronts the pastor with Bible verses about dancing, and the pastor was suitably, well, not 'shamed', but he changed his mind on the evidence of the Bible verses. Dancing is now allowed and all that.
Sadly, that's not how it would work nowadays. Tbh I'm not sure it would have worked back then, either, but hey, it's a story innit? :D No, the pastor would double down and probably throw Kevin's character out, and the congregation might even mob him. All backed up by suitable Scripture verses, of course ;)
And as for the fear factor, I am sure that it is a deliberately employed mechanism in order to keep people in line. Only when people begin to seek the true Jesus, as you have done, do they realise that actually fear holds no place in the believer's life. Do not fear the gatekeepers!
“It seems like people expect us to be in a state of fear, anxiety, and depression to prove we actually care.” Yes, this is exactly it! No more! I want the Spirit of peace. Thank you for reminding us of all those beautiful truths.
Amen to all of this! I would add to the truths you listed above:
8. God has invited us to partner with God in kingdom-building work, in loving our neighbor in whatever context/stage of life/mundanity we live in daily!
"Are you anxious about the current chaos in our country? Are you worried you’re not doing “enough”? Have you considered adding calling your representatives, researching executive orders, and community organizing to your daily to-do list?
"Were you also raised in American evangelicalism of the late 1980s to early 2000s?
"That anxiety is not the Holy Spirit speaking to you."
:::groans:::: yes, yes, yes, and yes to those questions. And I was raised (and still am United Methodist. Not exactly what most people would call an evangelical denom.
"It’s more likely years of subliminal and explicit messaging that told us we had to “change the world”, “take back the culture for Jesus”, and “do hard things” if we were serious about our faith."
:::bangs head against wall::: Yeah, that's pretty much it. I don't think I ever was worried about taking the culture back for Jesus, but changing the world and doing hard things? YES. SINCE I WAS EIGHT. Has 50 yr old me ever wondered why 8yr old me thought this? No.
This has been a rough week. I keep asking people the same question: how can I change this? And the answer has been the same frustrating answer from person to person: you can't do it alone. You have to do what God is calling you to do, and if you don't know what that is, keep listening until you hear the answer. But while you're waiting, love your people and make sure they're safe.
I really truly wish that I could snap my fingers and this would all go away. But I keep hearing the same answer to my question all over, so I'm gonna have to believe this is God speaking through them. And you. thank you for being one of those voices.
You are so welcome! I’m glad my article spoke to you. And you are right, we just do what God is asking us to do one little step at a time. No world changing. And that’s okay! 😆
I just finished “Here and Now” by Henri Nouwen, and he has some really good reflections that overlap with what you shared in this article.
“While optimism makes us live as if someday soon things will soon go better for us, hope frees us from the need to predict the future and allows us to live in the present, with the deep trust that God will never leave us alone but will fulfill the deepest desires of our heart... “
I’ve never seen Footloose either, for similar reasons. Not allowed when I was a kid, and for some reason have just not gone back and watched it since then, although I love 80s movies. I’ll have to watch this soon! And yeah, the fear is such a common, overwhelming feature of so much evangelicalism - especially the fringe groups.
This is a great piece. I saw Footlose when it first came out - I am a few years older than you! - and I loved it. Especially as a rebellious Christian; somehow the legalism never really 'bit' for me, or at least not as much as it could have done.
I remember when the main character (played by Kevin Bacon, iirc) confronts the pastor with Bible verses about dancing, and the pastor was suitably, well, not 'shamed', but he changed his mind on the evidence of the Bible verses. Dancing is now allowed and all that.
Sadly, that's not how it would work nowadays. Tbh I'm not sure it would have worked back then, either, but hey, it's a story innit? :D No, the pastor would double down and probably throw Kevin's character out, and the congregation might even mob him. All backed up by suitable Scripture verses, of course ;)
And as for the fear factor, I am sure that it is a deliberately employed mechanism in order to keep people in line. Only when people begin to seek the true Jesus, as you have done, do they realise that actually fear holds no place in the believer's life. Do not fear the gatekeepers!
Do not fear the gatekeepers! 😄 Thanks Tony.
“It seems like people expect us to be in a state of fear, anxiety, and depression to prove we actually care.” Yes, this is exactly it! No more! I want the Spirit of peace. Thank you for reminding us of all those beautiful truths.
Thank you for your own thoughts and how they’ve inspired me. 💕
Excellent, timely, and helpful. Are you an Episcopalian? You sound like one, at least our good ones. ❤️🩹 some are fearful. Fear is also contagious 😷
I’m not Episcopalian although I appreciate many things about that denomination. Maybe someday. 😊
The Episcopal Church welcome you anytime 😊
Amen to all of this! I would add to the truths you listed above:
8. God has invited us to partner with God in kingdom-building work, in loving our neighbor in whatever context/stage of life/mundanity we live in daily!
Love that addition! 😁
Thanks for this.
You are welcome!
"Are you anxious about the current chaos in our country? Are you worried you’re not doing “enough”? Have you considered adding calling your representatives, researching executive orders, and community organizing to your daily to-do list?
"Were you also raised in American evangelicalism of the late 1980s to early 2000s?
"That anxiety is not the Holy Spirit speaking to you."
:::groans:::: yes, yes, yes, and yes to those questions. And I was raised (and still am United Methodist. Not exactly what most people would call an evangelical denom.
"It’s more likely years of subliminal and explicit messaging that told us we had to “change the world”, “take back the culture for Jesus”, and “do hard things” if we were serious about our faith."
:::bangs head against wall::: Yeah, that's pretty much it. I don't think I ever was worried about taking the culture back for Jesus, but changing the world and doing hard things? YES. SINCE I WAS EIGHT. Has 50 yr old me ever wondered why 8yr old me thought this? No.
This has been a rough week. I keep asking people the same question: how can I change this? And the answer has been the same frustrating answer from person to person: you can't do it alone. You have to do what God is calling you to do, and if you don't know what that is, keep listening until you hear the answer. But while you're waiting, love your people and make sure they're safe.
I really truly wish that I could snap my fingers and this would all go away. But I keep hearing the same answer to my question all over, so I'm gonna have to believe this is God speaking through them. And you. thank you for being one of those voices.
It’s sounds like you had the same light bulb moment I had when I first realized this. You might be encouraged by this article I wrote the week before the election. https://open.substack.com/pub/beautifuldiscipleship/p/you-cant-change-america?r=bfch&utm_medium=ios
You are so welcome! I’m glad my article spoke to you. And you are right, we just do what God is asking us to do one little step at a time. No world changing. And that’s okay! 😆
Amen amen amen. I think this is kind of what I was hinting at obliquely in my post earlier this week, but your really speak about it clearly.
(P.S. I was born in the 70's, and I *still* haven't seen Footloose. One of these days... What's it streaming on?)
I love that God is speaking similar words to different people. 😁
Footloose doesn’t seem to be streaming anywhere currently. We watched it a couple of years ago probably on Netflix.
I just finished “Here and Now” by Henri Nouwen, and he has some really good reflections that overlap with what you shared in this article.
“While optimism makes us live as if someday soon things will soon go better for us, hope frees us from the need to predict the future and allows us to live in the present, with the deep trust that God will never leave us alone but will fulfill the deepest desires of our heart... “
Sounds like one I need to add to my reading list!
I love Henri Nouwen and his wisdom. Such good thoughts about hope. Living in the present with deep trust is what we need!! Thanks for sharing.
He was my faculty advisor at Yale. Profound teacher and great writer.
I’ve never seen Footloose either, for similar reasons. Not allowed when I was a kid, and for some reason have just not gone back and watched it since then, although I love 80s movies. I’ll have to watch this soon! And yeah, the fear is such a common, overwhelming feature of so much evangelicalism - especially the fringe groups.
It’s a classic! Definitely take time to watch it.