I've been spending the last few days reflecting on the Catalyst experience. There's no doubt the conference is encouraging and equipping many church leaders all over the country--that's the reason I'm involved with it. But the eye-candy of it all is what always lingers in my mind. What does an event of that magnitude perpetuate in the Christian subculture?
This question came up In many of the speaker interviews I conducted during the event. Our discussions centered on abiding, or cultivating community or spiritual intimacy, etc., but always in juxtaposition to this common question: How do we keep ourselves from being "wooed" by the rock star perceptions that such a massive event creates?
In my reflections, I took out Richard Foster's Freedom of Simplicity and found some indicting passages concerning self-blindedness. Here are some excerpts:
Francois Fenelon identified three stages through which we travel on our way into the simplicity of self-blindedness. The first stage involves freeing ourselves from an "intoxication" to material or outward things and becoming sensitive to the things of the spirit, especially our own inward condition.
In the second stage we move away from total absorption in ourselves and our eternal destiny to being centered in the fear of God.
As we move along, God will lead us into the third stage, in which our attention becomes more and more drawn to the divine center.
In the next few posts I want to touch on each stage. The first stage, however, is key for our discussion here. "Intoxication to material or outward things ..." this is what I'm referring to when I speak of "the massive event dynamic."
