Practice Resurrection

I turned the final page of my fourth Peterson book yesterday.

Practice Resurrection has been my favorite of the 5 volume series. It’s a commentary on the book of Ephesians but it’s really a wake up call for the 21st century North American church. I’m toying with the idea of making it required reading for every Ministry Council member in the year to come.

There’s one part where Peterson unpacks a Martin Buber concept that sees people in three hyphenated relationships–I-It (not good), Us-Them (also not good), and I-You (good)

Here’s a bit of what Peterson says about the “I-It” relationship:

“I-It turns persons into things so that I can control or use or dismiss or ignore them. It is the basic word that is particularly attractive in buying and selling, but it infiltrates every sector of life. When it infiltrates our congregation, the men and women with whom we worship and work become objectified… they gradually become functionalized. Under the pressure of “working for Jesus” or “carrying out the church’s mission,” we begin to treat our family members and fellow workers more like parts of a machine than parts of a body. We develop vocabulary that treats men and women and children more like problems to be fixed or as resources to be used than as participants in a holy mystery…. Love, the commanded relation, gives way to considerations of efficiency interpreted by abstractions–plans and programs, goals and visions, evangelism statistics and mission strategies.”

If you can’t envision what an “I-It” church looks like, my friend Scott sent me a link to a video that might be helpful.

This is not what Jesus had in mind when He breathed life into His church.