“Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore
whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4)
It seems that the more I age, the more I grow estranged from the society around me. I realize it now, sitting in an airport terminal waiting for my flight connection. Upon touching down from a transoceanic flight, the flight attendant [I still catch myself calling them “stewardesses,” politically correct language to the contrary] announced, “George was voted out.” Many passengers applauded; some groaned. My first thought, “The President voted out? The elections are months away.” Then I was informed that George was a singer on the television show, “American Idol.” How would I know? The minor incident affirmed my conviction that I’m losing touch with my environment. So much goes on that I’m not aware of.
It began in college and was reinforced after seminary. In high school I could sing every pop song from any label—but of course in those days, one could actually understand the lyrics. Once out of the seminary, it was though I had fallen off the earth. What are they singing about, and why? It’s all syncopated cacophony to me, with Black guys stabbing their fingers at me and groaning obscenities. Who needs it?
Back to the Atlanta terminal gazing at the passing passengers. I noticed that what people wear has no rhyme or rationale. Clothing can be anything at all. Comfort tops fashion or style: Shorts, sandals, sneakers, flip flops, gym clothes—anything goes. View an old movie or television audience of a half century past, and one notes how dress standards, not really dress codes, were maintained. Men wore fedoras; women wore hats of some sort. Respectable families came to meals dressed appropriately, hair combed and faces washed. Respect meant self-respect and concern for how others perceive us.
The contemporary social statement is: I dress for myself, just the way I want to. I don’t care a fig what you think of it, or of me. One of several may be alone, but starts giggling or barking something into a cell phone. They whip out their little devices while sitting next to you or while sauntering along, unconcerned that others are in their presence. Oblivious egomania is the definition of contemporary society—but the term is a misnomer. Society means “social,” or persons in the company of others.
What has this to do with Christianity? We “look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” Right! Because I’m already dying to this culture, even while I love it and thank God for living in this changing time. It’s just that it makes meditation so much easier for me. Orthodox Christianity erases the borderline between monasticism and a standard way of life. We living in the world maintain as best we are able the standards of the monks and nuns. We pray, we fast, and we keep to the same liturgical program that they do. Like them, we are “in the world, but not of it,” though not to their degree. I do what my country expects from me as a good citizen, but otherwise I’m pretty much on my own. Pop music and elevator music are just noise that I try to shut out. People around me express by their scruffy and schlumpy attire that they don’t care how they look or if I notice, so I am liberated from trying to open polite conversation, or even normal courtesy of greetings. They chat on cell phones as if I’m not present; therefore, it releases me from conventional pleasantries. I’m free to contemplate my life in Christ during the time allotted to me, yet it troubles me to be alive in a civilization that has lost the significance of being civil to one another.