Paris Syndrome

"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!