Status Quo

Tonight I attended a get-together with my church conference's bishop (admittedly mostly to meet with her about the upcoming BishBash on July 25th, but I figured I'd stay for the service). The purpose of the service was for the bishop to discuss the new conference that will be formed in 2010.

For the non-Methodists reading this, and for the Methodists unaware, the United Methodist Church structure begins with the global church and then breaks down into jurisdictions (regions of a country), which is made up of conferences, which is made up of districts, which is made up of local churches. I may have missed a step or two but you get the idea. Currently, upstate New York is split into four conferences, with two bishops serving the four conferences. Those at the top said, "Actually, your area needs only one bishop." So the four conferences got together and decided to become one big conference. Tonight's discussion was about what this means for our current conference, districts, and local churches.

Many meetings have been taking place to work this all out, with one of the first tasks being to establish a vision statement. I received a small part of the new conference's vision statement tonight, with a bullet point reading that the new conference "seeks to become a kingdom community where congregations seek to live together in the way of Jesus, evidenced by the status quo giving way to a revolution of community and neighborliness."

This caught my attention because (1) the church acknowledged that a status quo exists and (2) the word "revolution" was used. As a 28-year-old whippersnapper I feel it's my duty to rage against the status quo. Down with the status quo! But wait, didn't I just a few blog entries ago say I believed in the American Dream and wanted a white picket fence?

Webster's defines status quo as "the existing state of affairs." How do I fit into this? Let's see.

Straight? Check.
Married? Check.
Christian? Check.
Employed by a for-profit business? Check.
Kids? Not yet, but someday.
Home owner? Not yet, but someday.

I have a car, an IRA, department store credit cards, a Crock-Pot, a gym membership, and a college degree. And I'm okay with all of this. But as much as I fit the status quo I just as much believe it should be shaken up, redefined. How do I rage against the status quo?

From the inside out, I think. I'm not sure what this means, yet. Use my Crock-Pot for charity fund-raisers? Use my gym membership to help me run a marathon to bring awareness to a cause? Use the mobility and flexibility of my current job for a for-profit company to also volunteer, or write a book? Is this enough? Being a part of the status quo is only negative if the status quo is. Goal: help make the status quo Good. Probably from the inside out.