Spectating

My family and I have recently relocated, and we are now beginning to visit churches close to our new home. We are looking for a place to put down roots, but we are noticing a trend in most (not all) of them. We leave feeling we have only been observing worship rather than participating in it. Whether its a praise band singing songs at us or a fog machine cranking up to set the mood, we feel like we have not been able to simply connect with those around us over the noise of it all.

Our culture seems to be rather focused on spectating over participating. We make friends over social media rather than being social with friends. We pay increasing amounts of attention to the screens in front of us and miss out on the actual adventure life offers us every day. We increasingly isolate ourselves in ‘bubbles’ and ‘echo chambers’. We avoid the messiness of real relationship with other human beings. We are content to watch from a distance, because we believe it is somehow safe.

It isn’t. Isolation breeds fear. I find myself longing for genuine relationship. I am stopping my ears against the fear mongering. I do not want to just observe. I want to live a real life with real people.