Rod Dreher has been creating quite a helpful and productive stir with his arguments in favor of the “Benedict Option” as a way for the church to think about its mission in a world where Christianity is thrust to the despised cultural margins. I am not sure where I stand on all of the details—some seem yet to be worked out—but he is surely highlighting the fact that in America things are changing rapidly and that Christians need to realize that. Much of what he says resonates with the notion of church as exile community, with which I have deep sympathy. Yet part of me wonders if we need a new (or perhaps “new old”) option at all.
Last Sunday was my silver wedding anniversary. On Saturday, my wife was asked by a friend how we intended to mark the occasion. “Well, it is on a Sunday so I guess we will be in church in the morning and the evening for the regular services. Then in the afternoon we are planning to visit one of the housebound older ladies in the congregation. We will probably spend an hour reading the Bible and singing hymns with her.”
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