The couple across the aisle from me are a very respectable, very serious looking older couple, American by their accent and by her stereotypical ‘winged’ reading glasses. She is reading what looks to be a Christian version of the ‘Mars and Venus’ book about marriage – I caught a glimpse about God in her chapter heading, AND the cover has a LIBRARY label from some Baptist Church library on it. She is reading, underlining and taking serious notes. I reckon they are church heavies on the way home having visited pagan Australia – am I a good secret agent or what?!
As she’s sitting there reading; an OVERLY friendly (you've got to hate overly-friendly?) flight attendant walks down the aisle and reads over her shoulder. “How to have a fulfilling marriage!” he reads out loud in his Aussie twang; “Strewth, that’s a contradiction in terms, ha! ha! ha! Good luck to you, let me know if you find the answer,” he booms out.A few minutes later he shouts back down the aisle: “Have you heard this one? What’s the best form of contraception? WEDDING CAKE, Ha! Ha! Ha!” Ah, Aussie cross cultural sensitivity, you gotta love it!
I’m sitting next to Joe and his wife Nikki, an LA couple aged in their late twenties. Relly nice couple. They are on their way home from Melbourne where he’s been best-man at an American mate’s wedding – who’s married himself an aussie shiela.
They ask me what my trip was about. I’m always interested how people react to finding out I’m in the pastorin’ caper – so many deeply held assumptions... But Joe nodded understandingly: “I went to Lutheran seminary and worked as a youth worker for a number of years,” he replied, “turned out that I never finished the ordination thing, ended up in a totally different area.”
Joe is a muso who now works at MTV headquarters in compiling play-lists for syndication! On the side he still plays (with average success, I gather!) In clubs and pubs.
Nikki works for a Hollywood charitable organisation called Project AngelFood, that raises money and provides food and resources for the thousands of AIDS victims in the LA region. “ People don’t realise that in a wealthy place like LA we have so many poor and marginalised, and there is nothing for them.”
She works in fundraising; contacting celebrities for sponsorship – with some success I gather.
It is interesting that whilst both of them have a definite Christian faith, neither they, nor their friends have any engagement with the church – or even assume that organised Christianity has ANYTHING to say outside of the narrow agenda of individualistic morality.
“We were talking about religion before the wedding, and my friend [the groom] said he thought there were no more real Christians left in the world, that we were probably it. We all agreed that organised Christianity is pretty irrelevant these days.”
Interesting, these are well-educated, successful young adults. They are not hostile – indeed they affirm belief in a rudimentary faith - but in their life networks they cannot see evidence of relevant Christian faith. They have no knowledge as to what positive things might be happening, faithwise – But they are still living lives of faith and selflessly engaging in humanitarian activities.... quasi-Christians maybe?
How true is this for the 25-30s – “We believe the basics, will try to live responsibly, but we can’t see and don’t connect with organised religion”
The issue of how to be God's people relevantly is what my course here is about. One of the cool books I've just finished reading: Lesslie Newbigin: A Word in Season: Perspectives on Christian World Missions, can the secular West be 'converted to faith'?
..... On the other aisle, the respectable elderly Christian lady (with impeccable seriously set hair) has just laughed that sort of laugh which polite elderly Christian ladies laugh when they read something very funny but just a bit rude.
She’s rocking from side to side, going red with hand on mouth trying to stifle the giggle. Can’t quite see what chapter she’s reading, but its bought our Qantas steward come racing down the aisle grinning expectantly: “Find something tasty? Show us?”
