When predators are working to kill a herd animal for supper (or for breakfast) their main tactic is to separate one of the animals from the herd. They charge the herd and run the herd and turn the herd and pick out an animal—typically an old, young, or injured animal—and cut that animal off from the others. Then, with the chosen animal alone and isolated, they all close in for the kill and for supper.* The wildebeest that is cut away from the herd and isolated by a pride of lions is a “gonner.” (To this you say, “Wow Dave what a pleasant way to begin an article!”)
So, the moral of this little cautionary tale is that isolated wildebeests are extra-vulnerable animals. Isolated people are extra-vulnerable people. Isolated Christians are extra-vulnerable Christians.
If you were running with a pack of people that was being chased by lions in the Serengeti and the lions were trying to cut you out of the herd you would feel a genuine and well-grounded terror. You would know, just like the wildebeest knows, that if they succeed in getting you isolated from the others you will die a very ugly and merciless death.
Guess what? You are in very real danger right here in NW Houston when you are alone—cut off from the community of believers. Guess what again? The factors that are making all of us alone—largely isolated from each other—are legion in this culture. Guess what a third time? Most of these dangerous isolating factors are so subtle and so pervasive and so familiar that we do not even recognize that we are being isolated by them. We are all submitting to a host of isolating factors and are none the wiser for it.
The major isolating factor for us today is the electron. Let me make an initial disclaimer as I write this article on a PC and prepare to send it to you via email: this is not the stock anti-change article railing against electronics and technology and new inventions. The point of this article, which I hope will be clear in the end, is far more subtle than that.
Again, the electron is the major isolator of us in NW Houston today. Electrons isolate us by our use of email—which communicates ideas but not human presence. Electrons isolate us by our use of the internet—which delivers infinite information but not human presence. Electrons isolate us by our use of TV—which delivers “entertainment” but not human presence. (Sitting on the couch watching TV with someone, even holding their hand, is not human presence—it is a “blue flickering light absence” in which we individually connect with something in front of us but not with someone beside us.) Electrons isolate us by our use of ipods and headphones—they deliver music but not human presence. Electrons isolate us by our use of cell phones—they deliver information but not human presence. Electrons isolate us by our use of DVD systems in our cars—they deliver movies to the kids in the back but no human presence of the parents in the front.
A second isolator of people in NW Houston is cars. We are so free to travel and our transportation is so efficient and each adult owns their own car and we simply travel about, one person to a car, all over creation. (The small number of cars on the HOV lane, especially if solo drivers were not cheating and using the HOV illegally, compared to the huge number of solo drivers on the regular lanes is staggering.)
A third isolator of people in NW Houston is drivenness, over-commitment and our addiction to adrenaline. The combination of our internal insecurities and our cultural value for performance drives us to an over-achievement unparalleled in human history. One writer said that we all have “Hurry sickness.” By that he meant that we are in love with hurrying and that is sick. Somehow we get “high” by driving a kid from soccer practice, rushing at 12 miles over the speed limit and running several yellow lights, and delivering that child to piano practice just 2 minutes before their lesson starts.
A fourth isolator of people in NW Houston is affluence. We have too much money to stay connected with each other. One writer called this problem “Affluenza.” Simply put we can afford so much that every person in the family, and every person in our church, can have their own car and their own TV and their own bedroom and their own bathroom and their own computer and their own ipod and their own musical instrument. We are never forced to share or to be in the same room together or to travel together. We simply can afford not to be together.
I am quite sure that a more astute thinker and writer could think of other isolators in our culture. However, I have documented enough “isolators” in our lives to give you my point: We are being isolated by things that are very subtle, very pervasive, and very familiar—stuff that sneaks in under our protective radar and makes us alone and thus makes us vulnerable to spiritual attack and harm.
Let me say this another way: The problem with TV and ipods is not only that they mostly have filthy and inane stuff coming out of them but that they are major human isolators. Even when the content of electronic delivery systems is good, the isolation that accompanies that content is still bad.
The sad and dangerous thing for us is that we have been largely isolated from our family members and from the body of Christ. We are severed thumbs lying in a parking lot. The irony of this sadness is that we submitted to that isolating process willingly. We are like the wildebeest calf who voluntarily decided to run out into the pack of lions because he mistook it all for a game.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14) “And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach.” (Mark 3:14) “And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24, 25) “…but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men…” (Philippians 2:7) “And He took them (the little children) in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.” (Mark 10:16) “And His name shall be called Immanuel, God with us.” (Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23)
The life of Jesus was, and is, a life of presence. It is a life of incarnation. It is a life of connection. Jesus would never fall for isolation—electronic or otherwise.
Try something—I dare you: Declare a one week fast from electrons in your family. The first thing that will happen is a bitter outcry from all involved that this is unconscionable, unfair, and cruel. The second thing that would happen, if you actually insisted on the electron fasting, is that family members would pout in their rooms for awhile and then they just might engage in some presence. And if they engage in some presence they are being like Jesus.
*Before the fall all animals were herbivores and none were carnivores. When you see a National Geographic Special and watch a wildebeest taken down by a pack of lions and your child says, “Why does that happen?” do not say to them, “I don’t know son, that is just the way God made things.” God did not make things that way. The fall made things that way.
