Katie Derksen
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word "individual" can be defined in one of four ways. One: obsolete or inseparable. Two a: of, relating to, or distinctively associated with an individual, as in an individual effort; two b: being an individual or existing as an indivisible whole two c: intended for one person, as in an individual serving. Three: existing as a distinct entity, or separate. Four: having marked individuality, as in an individual style.
Each one of us here today are individuals. We are each a distinct entity, and separate from each other. We each clothe our own bodies, feed ourselves, and entertain ourselves in our own, distinct way. We each have our own, distinct needs - some of which may overlap, and yet may need to be filled in our own, certain way. For example: we all need to eat. And yet, I don't think there are two people who share exactly the same likes and dislikes when it comes to food. Some people like more seasonings, some people like things plainer. Some people love one sort of food, while others hate that same particular dish. Some people have different needs in relation to food, such as diabetics. We all figure out how best to feed ourselves, to maintain a healthy body, and how to work around our own likes and dislikes, and those of others.
We also each have our own faith. Your faith is different than the faith of the person sitting next to you, in front of you, and on the other side of the sanctuary than you. We are individual in our faith in God, in the reasons why we choose this faith, and in the ways we sustain it. We each prefer different hymns, different styles of worship, and different ways of hearing a message. Though we all have a faith of some sort, we each express it and live it in different ways.
There's a real emphasis on the individual in today's society. "Individuality" is a key word, one that is heard often. For example, it's often used in advertizing. There are companies out there that offer "individualized" packages, claiming to be able to form fit their product to your individual needs. In reality, though, my guess is that what's often offered is merely one of a number of packages that the company has pre-formed, and has decided matches a particular customer based on something like a questionnaire. There are also a number of stores and fashion magazines that tout "individual" looks, when really all the look is, is something different - walk out of that store, lift your head from the pages of the magazine, and chances are, you'll see someone wearing the new "individual style" you just purchased, or that you just read about. Individuality, it seems, can be mass-produced.
However, that individuality is more than just a style, or something that can be purchased in a package. Individuality is also a way of thinking.
Post-Modernism
When I was at Bible college, there was a class called "Religion and Modern Thought." In fact, I think it still might be offered, though I'm sure the name and the professors have gone through a change. Religion and Modern Thought was one of those classes that had been around for quite some time, I'm sure, and was also one that most theology students landed up taking at one point or the other. In this class, we studied the likes of Soren Kierkegaard, Immanuel Kant, Augustine, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean Paul Sartre, and many others. We looked at the Reformation, the Enlightenment, Modernism, and Post-Modernism. As impressive as this list could be, I must admit that I don't remember very many specifics from all of these individuals, philosophies, and eras. One of the things that I do remember is postmodernism - or, at least, my initial reaction to it. I remember thinking "Postmodernism sounds cool. I'm a post-modern. That's neat, and I'm happy about that." However, as I got to know more and more about post-modernism, I became disillusioned. Over the years at Canadian Mennonite Bible College, I started to hear terms related to postmodernism more and more, and about the different ways that postmodernism is effecting our society, and I eventually got rather sick of hearing about it, and rather disgruntled that it is a part of our world.
However, it is here, and it's here to stay, in whatever form it lands up taking. It is still in the initial throes of forming, and so it's hard to say exactly where this will land up. So far, though, postmodernism has been marked by an extreme emphasis on the individual, and on the importance of the individual. In a postmodern world, the individual is key, and the individual is all-important, at least to that individual. In a world where what each individual feels and thinks is so important, truth becomes relative: what is true for you may not be true for me, and certainly may not be true for the next guy.
One of those terms that I heard rather often in relation to both modernism and postmodernism was "meta-narrative." A meta-narrative is a story that is presumed to be applicable to most people, one that is painted with broad strokes. Moderns believed not only that meta-narratives existed, but also that they had trustworthy application: post-moderns, however, view meta-narratives with skepticism, and believe that, since truth is relative, meta-narratives have little to contribute to the world. How can something that is true for one person apply to the next person, when they have such a different life, and such a different perspective on things?
The Exclusivity of Jesus
In this sort of mentality, how can we then hear the words of Jesus as told to us in John 14? Hear them again: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also" (John 14:6). Last week we heard another exclusive statement made by Jesus: "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit.... I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture." (John 10:1, 9). How can these very exclusive statements be something that post-moderns can hear, and can relate to?
We live in a world of extreme political correctness, one where we're afraid to offend others, be it their faith, their ethnicity, or their background. We have to think carefully before we speak, and sometimes it seems like it's only getting worse. If we were to tell a postmodern individual that we believed that Jesus was the only way to God, I could see that person having one of two responses: the first being offence, and the second being indifference. I could hear a post-modern replying: "that's fine for you, but I believe something different."
I don't have an answer to the question of how to deal with Jesus' exclusive statements. I simply don't, and I struggle with these questions. What my mind keeps coming back to, though, is the grace of God, and the grace that has been promised to the world. To some degree, it doesn't matter whether I know the answers or not: God is the one in control, and God knows a heck of a lot better than I do what's going on, and what the outcome of things will be.
So Where am I Going with This?
So what's the purpose of this long ramble I've been on, about post-modernism, individualism, and the relativity of truth as perceived by some people in society? Partly, it's to get you to think, and to play devil's advocate. Do you believe that truth is relative? How firm are you in your belief that Christianity has a pigeonhole on Truth, and Salvation? Is it even necessary that Christianity have that pigeonhole? What are your thoughts on individuality, and the impact that has on the world? Do you see a world where an individual's rights and needs are supreme, sometimes to the detriment of another individual's rights and needs, as a place you want to live in, as a place you want to leave for your children?
I also want to get you thinking about the church as a whole, and how the church can exist in a postmodern world. Today's theme, as you can see from the front of the bulletin cover, is "a chosen people." Chosen by God. And not just chosen as individuals, and as single units that have faith: we are chosen as a people. As a group, and a community. We are chosen to stand up together, solitary individuals joined as one, to face the extreme individuality of the world, and think about cohesiveness. About what we are to do in this world.
A long time ago, the church existed in a world where it was assumed that each person was Christian. In fact, upon birth each person was baptised, and the baptism list also doubled as the taxation list of some countries. People didn't have the freedom to chose to be a part of the church or not - they just were. Today, in many countries, it's exactly the opposite. Some people assume that people in general are not church-goers, and are surprised when they discover that there are still individuals that they know who go to church. Other people leave the church upon graduation from high school, and don't set foot regularly in a church until it's time for their own children to start attending Sunday School. Other people attend church regularly for their entire lives. People have much more of a choice about their faith, and about the place that their faith, and the place that God, will have in their lives.
At one point or another, people will make a choice about faith and God. And if they choose to let God have a place in their lives, God turns that around, and makes that individual a part of the chosen people of God. The individual becomes a part of a people, a part of a group. By showing up here this morning, you have said that you have either chosen God, or are thinking about choosing God. Wherever we each are on that road, we each have a faith, and that faith, at its root, has commonalities. Each of us here, individuals that we are, are a part of the chosen people of God.
Called to be a People
There are seven definitions under the word "people" in the dictionary. I won't read all of them to you, but I'll pull out three of them that I think apply to what I'm saying today. One: human beings making up a group or assembly or linked by a common interest. Two: the members of a family or kinship. Three: a body of persons that are united by a common culture, tradition, or sense of kinship, that typically have common language, institutions, and beliefs, and that often constitute a politically organized group.
We are all individuals. And yet, at the same time, we are a group of people united by a common belief, linked by a common interest. We are individuals, but we are also a people. Despite our differences, we all share a faith in the same God. We may sometimes disagree over the details, but we are still a group, still a community. Individuality means separation, and difference. Being a people, a group, means being one, being together. However, as we simply cannot be a group without first being individuals, there will be differences, and sometimes these differences can lead to frictions. We're called to learn to lay those aside, or deal with them and move on, to strive towards God as a people, as a group that moves as one. To achieve that, we may have to put aside our individuality at times, to be one.
Each one of us here today is a part of a people. In a world where individuality is lauded, we stand against that. We believe, despite our differences, in the meta-narrative that is Christianity, and we believe that it has something to contribute to the entire world. We have chosen to be a part of the People of God, and we have been chosen by God in return. May we, as individuals and as a group, continue to learn how to be one in a world of many.
All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.