"Among the Laity"...is a Revolution?

This CartoonChurch.com cartoon originally appeared in the Church Times and is taken from ‘My Pew: Things I have seen from it’, published by Canterbury Press.

Despite the cartoon above, here is a recent devotional piece called "Among the laity" from Eugene Peterson in Living the Message (September 7):


Spirituality is of mostly concern among the laity, the men and women who are running markets, raising children, driving trucks, cooking meals, selling cars, believing in God while changing a flat tire in the rain...

Contemporary spirituality desperately needs focus, precision, and roots: focus on Christ, precision in the Scriptures, and roots in a healthy tradition. In these times of drift and dilettantism, evangelical Christians must once again serve the church by providing just such focus and precision and rootage. That it is primarily lay Christians who are left to provide this service to the church is not at all crippling. The strength and impact of evangelicalism has often been in the laity--transcending denominational divisions, subverting established structures, working behind the scenes, beginning at the bottom.


It's not fashionable to use the clergy/laity split in some circles these days, but I think Peterson still makes a worthwhile observation that real movements of change can not be (and have not been) based solely on charismatic leadership.

The last line in particular resonates with me in particular as to what being a city "catalyst" is about: "transcending denominational divisions, subverting established structures, working behind the scenes, beginning at the bottom." But this quote reminds me that catalyst should not become another title for leaders to appropriate for themselves and unwittingly create yet another (unhelpful) division between "we the elite" and "you the masses." "Catalyst" needs to remain a function, not a position. There are many catalysts in each of our cities, and I am meeting more and more of them--and not all of them hold position or influence, at least not the way we typically think of those things. And catalysts hold the seed of revolution in their hearts--and I'm hoping for us to hear more of their stories in later posts soon!