I’m reading a terrific little book called Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. In an early chapter, Kevin summarizes Robert Wuthnow‘s description of our generation from his book After the Baby Boomers as a generation of tinkerers.
Our grandparents built. Our parents boomed. And my generation? We tinker. …We are seeing a generation of young people grow up (sort of) who tinker with doctrines, tinker with churches, tinker with girlfriends and boyfriends, tinker with college majors, tinker living in and out of their parents’ basement, and tinker with spiritual practices no matter how irreconcilable or divergent.
I may be slightly older then the generation Wuthnow describes. But I too feel the pull of tinkering.
Wuthnow does point out that tinkering is not all bad.
Those who tinker know how to improvise, specialize, pull things apart, and pull people together from a thousand different places.
Some people are more tinkerers then others by nature. I’m a tinkerer. From cooking every ethnic food possible and then combining (Chinese quesadillas anyone?), to never sticking with a 6 week workout program (Kettleball/Pilates combo?), I mix-up, mash-up and tinker.
What about doctrines and spiritual practices. This is where it’s tough. Some will sing heartily, “On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand“ and my voice joins with them. My HOPE is built on nothing less! But still I tinker. When I read and study the Westminster Confession, I read divergent strains of thought concurrently. Then comes the mash-up. I try to integrate 16th century Puritan thought with 21st century understanding. To some this spells trouble – a recipe for disaster far worse then Chinese quesadillas. As I read, study and admire reformed worship, I also read about indigenous worship in Africa and South America where the Holy Spirit is moving mightily. A mash-up of Puritan/Continental metric Psalmody and African rhythms intrigues me. But to some, that would be like tying KettleBalls to Pilates and ruin the grace and beauty of reformed worship. Not everybody is a tinkerer.
Are you a tinkerer?
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Thanks, Chris. This opens up some new avenues I need to think through. I think I could summarize many of the interpersonal conflicts I've had within the church in the past few years as the clash of tinkerer (me mostly) with builder.
I wonder if there is not room for both in the church, and if perhaps the most productive way forward will be for those who find a way to build cooperation between the two.
I think tinkerers have an important contribution to make. But tinkerers need to be careful to not overestimate their role while diminishing the role of the "builder". There needs to be both, and God in his wisdom has filled the church with both. So yes, I think it is necessary for the church to recognize both the tinkerer and the "builder" in the church.
If you are at all like me, if there is an exception, an inconsistency, or a better way I am providentially wired to find it. That exception or inconsistency resides in an unbearable tension that must be tinkered with until solved.
History I imagine is strewn with the wreckage of tinkerers' experiments and solutions. But history has also been forever changed by tinkerers who did not give up, or give in.
I hope you are right and cooperation is possible, but living humbly with the tension is probably the first step (for me). Thanks for taking the time to comment and add to the my thinking.