From Eugene Peterson’s book “Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places”
“Self” is a threadbare word, a scarecrow word.
“Soul” is a word reverberating with relationships: God relationships, human-relationships, earth-relationships.
“Self” in both common speech and scientific discourse is mostly and isolating term.
“Soul” gets beneath the fragmentary appearances and experiences and affirms and at-homeness, an affinity with whoever and whatever is at hand…
Setting the two words side by side triggers a realization that a fundamental aspect of our identity is under assault every day. We live in a culture that has replaced soul with self. This reduction turns people into either problems or consumers. Insofar as we acquiesce in that replacement, we gradually but surely regress in our identity, for we end up thinking of ourselves and dealing with others in marketplace terms: everyone we meet is either a potential recruit to join our enterprise or a potential consumer for what we are selling; or we ourselves are the potential recruits and consumers. Neither we nor our friends have any dignity just as we are, only in terms of how we are they can be used. (pp 37-38)
This is beauty of community and Small Groups. God calls us to relationship with people. He does not call us to deal with consumers. Are you dealling with “selfs” or with “souls” in your Small Group?
Filed under: Uncategorized
