About Stability

At this entry, Aaron Klinefelter reflects that

"One of my observations of many conversations around 'emerging' things (culture, church, etc...) is the pervasive feeling of liminality. The 'in-between-ness' ... always in transition... never settled.... 'open-ended-ness'....

"Maybe what a watching world that yearns for home and feels the constant pressure of 'the next big thing', really needs is to see a People who make their home in a foreign land. A People who choose for stability in the face of tension and tenuousness."

It got me thinking about stability myself. In the past 5 months, on our small street of 10 houses/homes, 5 have been for sale or have new owners . In the past 2 years, another house traded hands. In half the cases, the former owners had been there only briefly themselves. And we are thinking of moving, too, even though we have already been here nearly 25 years.

So, I read Aaron's reflection, then did some googling myself about stability. One article that leapt out at me was this paper, presented at a Bluffton College conference on"Anabaptism & Postmodernity," (August 6-8, 1998) by Gerald Schlabach, an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Among Schlabach's relevant comments was this:

It is no use rediscovering any of our church's roots, nor discerning innovative ways to be faithful to our church's calling, if we won't slow down, stay longer even if we can't stay put indefinitely, and take something like a vow of stability. Slow down -- because postmodernism may really
be hypermodernism. Stay longer -- because there is no way to discern God's will together without commitment to sit long together in the first place. A vow of stability -- because it is no use discerning appropriate ways to be Christian disciples in our age if we do not embody them through time, testing, and the patience with one another that our good ideas and great ideals need, in order to prove their worth as communal practices.

As one Mennonite church leader remarked to me concerning the impact of constant mobility on our congregations: "It's getting so the Abrahamic thing to do is to stay put."3

Postmodernism, however, seems to thrive on the problem of instability, not confront it. If there's any such thing."

Instability, and pursuit of the next best thing? Of course, these are quite related in our culture and in our time, and as these others point out, can get in the way of catching the Grace and Spirit of God as it moves among us, animates us, and moves each and all toward Christ. But, again, the Psalmist has a word of contemplative wisdom:

In God alone there is rest for my soul,
from him comes my safety;
He alone is my rock, my safety, my stronghold so that I stand
unshaken.
Psalm 62: 1-2