1 October 2008

More stuff on "stuff"

Jonathan Brink writes

The coolest thing I heard today was while reading, “The Tangible Kingdom.

“We have to remember that the ancient faith communities that set a course to change the world did so without church programs, without paid staff, without websites, and without brochures, blogs or buildings. They were lean! The point of going without all the stuff is simple but profound. When you don’t have all the “stuff,” you’re left with a lot of time to stpend[sic] with people.”

I liked that quote, I think that is very in tune with how I feel lately, but the statement does seem to indicate that everything we do is bad. Frank Viola (and others) would certainly agree that we need to return to a first century way of doing things... but then we admit that we don't mind having some technology to work with. I don't think we want to return to the days before the printing press, which the ancient faiths did not have their own personal bibles for study. I doubt the author above was including bible studying as "stuff" that get in the way.

I agree our "stuff" does get in the way at times - but it is more than a soundbite to agree on what "stuff" is good and what is bad.





2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tim, I heard what you are saying but I read it a completely different way. I saw it as not just stuff we get allow to get in the way but also stuff we rely on that keeps us from engaging people. We can spend, but not always, spend so much time doing all this stuff that we have no time for people.

Tim Good said...

Ahh, yes I see what you are saying. The time spent on maintaining the stuff, steals the time that could be spent being with people. Priorities.