Transformation out of the Bubble

Dr. Michael Adams, president of the University of Georgia, talked to the Campus Ministry Association last week. Dr. Adams will be retiring this year after a storied tenure at the helm of Georgia's flagship university. He took the opportunity of speaking to our group to reflect on what he has learned working at the collegiate level for more than 30 years. Among the many bits of advice, he told us to keep learning, to try new things, to grow ever more open to new people, new ideas, and new experiences. He noted that numerous studies demonstrate study-abroad experiences stretch students more than any other educational opportunity. He extrapolated that this was also true for the rest of us who choose to travel. This same conclusion was shown in my dissertation research. Every alumnus in my study who had been abroad for an extended period of time had their "Christian Bubble" burst; when they left their "comfort zone" and encountered ideas or people who were radically different from what they thought or "always believed," each began to re-examine those ideas. The result was that their worldviews were expanded through the trips.

Everyone has a worldview, a bubble, if you will. In my study I explored the phrase "Christian Bubble" after several study participants mentioned it in their interview. Though I had used the term before I sought to understand what the folks I was interviewing meant by it. It proved to be a fascinating inquiry.

Our bubble acts as a lens through which we see everything around us, by which we make meaning, and how we interpret the world. As a result our worldview, or our bubble, is usually difficult to recognize. This poses a problem for us as Christians, as we are called to adopt a new worldview after deciding to follow Christ. Richard Rohr writes, "Every viewpoint is a view from a point, and our vantage point is utterly changed by God" (Rohr, Immortal Diamonds, p. 106). However, I'm afraid for many USAmericans who adopt the name "Christian" there is not much difference between their "before Christ" bubble and their "Christian bubble." Many are more influenced by their chosen political party, job, or social group than by their faith or a transformative relationship with God. And perhaps even worse, while there might be a slight shift in framing "eternity" the change does not really affect day to day living.

Here's a question to ponder, "if I were not a follower of Christ how would my life be different?" When answering, go into more than just belief systems or Sunday morning activities. Would you treat people differently? Would your goals be different? What would your day to day approach to life and work look like?

If you cannot see much difference in this hypothetical query, or if you have not experienced much of a change because of your faith over the past few years, it might be time to delve deeply into your "worldview" or "bubble" to see how much of a hold it has on you. Perhaps it is time to ask God to shake things up a bit in your life. Perhaps it's time to plan an event or activity that challenges your bubble - a long term missions trip overseas, a "beyond comfort zone" educational experience, or volunteering in an area that is out of your norm. Richard Rohr writes of the difference that should be evident in the lives of all Christians who have been, and are being transformed, through their relationship with Christ:

"Before transformation, you pray to God. After transformation you pray through God, as the Christian liturgies always say: 'Through Christ our Lord. Amen!' Before radical conversion, you look for God as if God were an object like all other objects. After conversion (con-vertebrae, to turn around or to turn with), you look out from God with eyes other than your own. As the Dominican, Meister Eckhart put it in one of his sermons, 'The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.' All humans are doing is allowing God to 'complete the circuit' within us - until we both see from the same perspective." (Rohr, Immortal Diamonds, p. 106)

If we look to the Biblical scriptures as a guide, those who follow Jesus should be transformed to be more loving, more open to other's needs, less focused on ourselves, and more driven by God's desires. Such Christians would also reflect the attributes of 1st Corinthians 13 (commonly known as the love chapter), Philippians 2:6-14 (Paul's humility song), and Galatians 5:14-26 (the list of the fruits of the Spirit).

Paul wrote about change in a few other places too. In Romans 12:2 he advised,

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." 

Then in his second letter to the church in Corinth he claimed,

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). 

He declares in 1st Corinthians 2:16 followers of Jesus see and experience the world differently because through God's Spirit we have gained "The mind of Christ." Did you catch that? Through the transformation that can occur in followers of Christ, we can actually adopt the Mind of God - now that should burst your bubble and break through your status quo vision of the world!

So, do you see things more like your peers or more like God? Perhaps it is time to ask God to pull out a proverbial pin and burst that bubble!