I’m hanging out here in the West Virginia mountains with Bible historian and futurist Len Sweet. He’s been a significant voice into the Christian community authoring over 25 books.
Today, Len suggested that we now live in a Google era. The past 500 years we’ve been in a left-brain world, a linear, modern world…think accountants and engineers. We’ve been treating our world like an orange…peeling it, sectioning it, taking it apart, before consuming it in pieces. We’ve treated the Bible the same.
But this Google world is a holistic world…a post modern, visually driven, right-brain world…think artist and net-worker. We need to approach this new world as we do an apple. There’s no peeling it, sectioning it, or taking it apart. We eat the whole apple at once.
So Len is challenging us to think EPIC:
- Experiential
- Participatory
- Image rich
- Connected
Reality TV is EPIC, Google is EPIC, video games are EPIC, and as I think about it…Obama is EPIC. He is experiential and participatory, powerfully relating with and intimately engaging others. So much so, he’s being called the “Worlds President” today. He gets this image-rich and connection thing looking and acting so presidential. And he’s the first Facebook/Tweeter, digitally connected candidate in history. It all helps explain his ability to overcome his race, past relationships, and the most liberal voting record in the Senate.
Check out today’s FoxNews global comments:
People are feeling that the most powerful person in the world does not have to be a white guy. That’s a huge breakthrough for the United States and for humanity.This is the fall of the Berlin Wall times ten.
And from a Frenchman, “This morning we all want to be American, so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes.”
This global response is truly remarkable!
Len’s on to something with this EPIC shift in this Google era. And Obama gets it. He sees the world as a whole rather than sections. I didn’t vote for him, as many of his values conflict with mine. However, I think we are all beginning to sense that the world is moving far too fast to section and divide it as we once did. And it makes me hopeful to see Obama navigate it.
Are we in the Google era, and could that be why Obama’s EPIC skills won out?
More important…are you developing EPIC skills? Is your church?
Quick break-from-work thought:
When hearing those 4 characteristics, I can’t help but think that the older Christian liturgies fit into the EPIC description quite beautifully.
Your dead on Nick…in many ways it’s coming back around.
I could’nt help but think about Luke 16:8 “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.”KJV
The church does not have to play catch up to the world. We have the Greater One in us. The church has to see that the old methods alone dont work if you want to reach people.
This does not mean we have to give up biblical or traditional values. It means we have to find new ways to express and teach them.
“Old school values with new school Flava.”
God is light years ahead of the world in ideas to reach the lost and connect people. The church has to tap into the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, ask for His direction and leading, and not let ourselves get stuck in the past ways of doing things.
The Obama team has paid attention to the wants of people.
- Engaging
- Planned
- Inclusion
- Connecting
I think the undercurrent of this shift or movement that we are witnessing is a sense of people being heard.
Where the church could shine and stand head and shoulders above this politcal move is if we show Love.
Let us as the church show the world that we can and will love our neighbor as ourselves.
People don’t care how much you know, unless they first know how much you care.
We can do this Church. Yes we can.
Hey dad,
I took my boys to the polls and although I did not vote for Obama, I felt twinge of the excitment that others were feeling…I saw three african Americans while I was voting and I just wanted their hopes to be realized. I wanted them to feel valued. I wish Obama hadn’t been so quick to support aborition…and odd healthcare ideas, or I just might have been tempted to vote democratic for the first time ever.
SO, in answer to your question, I think he connected with the younger generation. I saw a shirt that said “Barack and roll” and I had to smile in spite of myself…that money he raised went into some pretty witty ideas that reached people. He was out of the box, new, and young people took it, hook line and sinker. I also heard someone say in response to a picture of his family in the newpaper, and I quote “they look just like movie stars” I also saw Obama on the front of “Fitness” for men at the grocery store…pretty shallow yes…but visual like you mentioned. A google age kind of advantage.
Ann
Ed!!!!
I would say, I stumbled upon your blog, but I think it was more of a God thing!
I’m refilling my coffee and going to hang out here all morning.
Do you have e-mails or connections for your siblings?
I’m looking forward to reconnecting as adult cousins.
This is the best I’ve read post election about president elect Obama. Good job. Carry on.
Your cousin,
Julee Frey Wilke
First off, Nick – you’re spot on. That’s why some thinkers looking at postmodern thought (which is what Len Sweet is describing) have noticed the many parallels to premodern notions (check out “Ancient-Future Faith” by Robert Webber.
Second, Ed, as one who did vote for Obama (a conversation that would require far more dialogue than is feasible on this post) I am grateful for your respectful discourse about the President-elect (a rare quality found among most Christians these days) and am excited to be a part of this important moment in history. I keep thinking of the millions of people who voted who were alive just 43 years ago when Blacks were first allowed to vote and of the fact that Obama will be sworn in on the 100th anniversary of the creation of the NAACP. Amazing.
And this is really why I dig this post because there’s actually a lot more going on here than meets the eye. Why has it taken so many centuries for us to get to the point of believing “that the most powerful person in the world does not have to be a white guy”? I will argue that our long history of racism is deeply tied to the 500 year modern thinking of which you speak. Linear thinking/-ers are bred to think that there is only way to do something, only one way to think, one way to live, one view of history or religion or politics, etc that is correct. In other words, linear thinking begets a dislike of difference, multiplicity, or diversity. Thus, it should come as no surprise that nearly all the “great” (and most influential) thinkers of the modern era were racists and believed in the superiority of the White race – including Luther, Descartes, Kant, Hume, Hegel, Darwin, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and a whole slew of others. In this era, Black people were demonized (literally, in religious art) and believed to be only good for hard work (which is why they were allowed into athletics long before intellectual positions). The “EPIC” viewpoint is open to creativity, open to hearing from the marginalized voices.
Here’s a good analogy: Linear thinkers are like a book (the Gutenberg press, along with Galileo and the Copernicun revolution, helped to usher in the Modern era). There is only one way to read a book. EPIC thinkers are like the Internet (an advance of our postmodern world). There is no beginning or end to the Web, and no one right way to search through information on a particular page. In fact, your first introduction to a website might not even be through the “homepage.”
My new daughter in law just posted a blog that you might LOVE …
http://www.bestintentions.blogspot.com
nice to see your face on line and feel re-connected….
Tyrone,
Great thoughts, thanks for sharing. I’m truly happy for all those who have felt marginalized for years. And, I really like your thought here:
The Obama team has paid attention to the wants of people.
- Engaging
- Planned
- Inclusion
- Connecting
Let’s pray each of us, and the church, can become truly EPIC as you and Len Sweet define it. Again, really good thoughts.
Blessings,
Ed
Ann,
Your kind, empathetic thoughts took me back to the time you shared life with us at house. Your spirit reached out to everyone here just as it did at that polling place. You’re special Ann.
I can almost cry as well as I think of how so many felt on the outside for so long. I have no idea where this all goes, but there is something right about a big part of it. And we can all learn much regarding how to connect and influence in this new world.
Love you Ann
Brock,
Your saying it all so well…great points. And, for a 30 year old to “dig” my post…well, I kind of “dig” that! Can a 51 year old use that term and be authentic?
It’s remarkable to consider, as you mentioned, that all the great thinkers in the modern era were racist. Many of the older Christian men I grew up with were as well. It’s quite sad really. And it’s an important example how we can believe something that is flat out false, yet wrap Bible versus around it.
I’d like you to put together a 400 word guest post why you, as a Christian, voted for Obama. Would you do that for me?
Ed
Hey Joy,
Thanks for sharing the link. I couldn’t get there. Would you check the address and resend?
Great to hear from you, please coma back and share your thoughts.
Ed
Hi,
My mother-in-law tried to link to my recent post. You will find it here:
http://best-intentions.blogspot.com/2008/11/until-further-notice-holding-my-horses.html
Thanks for reading!