"If you only look at us, you might
well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the
unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from
confusing God’s incomparable power with us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7, The Message)
For about a dozen Japanese tourists a year, a visit to Paris, France, is followed almost immediately by a visit to a psychiatrist. Dubbed the "Paris Syndrome," this well- documented phenomenon sometimes leads to serious psychoses. For instance: one man became convinced during his Paris visit that he was Louis XIV; two women came to believe their hotel room was bugged as part of a French plot against them; and another woman was convinced she was being bombarded by microwaves. Apparently, all these people were fine until they went on vacation.
According to
the Reuters news service, the syndrome results from culture shock or, more
specifically, from a clash between expectations and reality. Expecting the
fabled "City of Light," the tourists apparently discover instead a
city that doesn’t match their expectations, finding Parisians to be much less
charming and romantic than they had imagined, and certainly less polite.
Now, I have
been to Paris (as I’m sure many of you have, too), so I can understand
something of what “Paris Syndrome” is all about. But even if you’ve never been
to Paris, there are many people right here in our community who may experience
something like this every single Sunday when they worship with us, either
online or outdoors in our parking lot service.
In a manner of speaking, we have our own “tourists” of sorts, and they
can also be rather fragile. For that matter, in today’s context I would argue
that there are even some church members who fit into this category!
Let’s call it
the “Church Syndrome.” Some people come to worship expecting certain
things that we just don’t live up to -- some are disappointed, not just with
the preaching or music or the fact that it’s happening outside, online, or just
“not in a church building,” but sometimes even with the humanity that they see
and/or interact with. Expecting the glories
of heaven, they find instead fallible people just like themselves, or they
expect things to be like they have been for years and year and years before a
global pandemic -- and they were hoping for much more than that.
Clearly, to
expect perfection of other people is to set oneself up for disappointment,
whether on vacation or with the church. However, no matter what our dreams might
be, in the end we all need to remember that the only Paris there is, is the
Paris that IS, and the only church there is ... is YOU AND ME. And we aren't
perfect!
There are, of
course, some significant differences between the Paris and Church Syndromes. As
far as I know, the citizens of Paris do not profess to be going on to
perfection, while we in the church are actually audacious enough to say we're
reaching for the heavenly in our earthly lives. But we do this because we're
traveling with a Savior whose love embraces us as we are, and whose Spirit
helps us close the gap between human frailty and holy ideals.
So, if you worship
with our church or any other expecting perfection (whether online or – for the
time being, until it’s safe – outdoors), you will more than likely be sorely
disappointed. But, if you 're looking
for the trip of a lifetime, the church (in spite of its imperfections) has
Paris beat hands down! Remember, God
loves you and I do, too!
