Suburban Revival: Possible or Dream?

I am a rural Christian who began moving out of rural settings with college at age 23 who now is in a vocation working with suburban Christians and can outwardly begin to call myself one. This blog will focus on the change and also reflect on Hsu’s text The Suburban Christian so that changes like I experienced can be focused and beginning questions can be formed.

Some of my observations in my shift to suburban living are centered on how money is spent. In rural life, money is spent and reinvested into rural living. For example, when my dairy farming family had good years, the money was spent on equipment or livestock upgrades. In suburbia, good years mean more lawn ornaments, new cars, and/or more clothing. One interesting comparison from my perspective is that both contexts do not attempt to pay down debt. I cannot state that spending on a new tractor is better than a new dress but the focus of that spending is different. The tractor has a value in terms of how it can improve work. A new cow has a value in its offspring and its milk (in the case of a dairy farm). I have yet to fully understand the value of a new dress or a desire to impress with a dress. I do not have the experience or possibly the intelligence to understand this desire to have a new outfit. I think I can say that it does not have the same long term use in mind as a cow or a tractor.

In suburban culture, money does seem to be the key and the goal to life. Therefore, showing your money is essential. In rural life that I observed years ago, money was almost embarrassing. You did not want to tell other farmers about a new tractor or show any new items. The value was in preserving old items like how many miles you could get on a farm truck. In suburban culture, this showing seems to be essential. When my current suburban home got new bushes in the front of the house a few years ago, the entire street made a fuss.

My first question related to Hsu’s text is centered on his future hope for suburbia. Can suburbia overcome it obsession with money? If it cannot, then God has no place. Can suburbanites do what Hsu calls them to and see money as extra that can do good locally, in proximity cities, and globally? I am not convinced. Our current economic climate leads these suburbanites to cling even tighter to their money as evidence that they do not see what they have.

Now to get more personal, I struggle with budgeting. I continually find the month to month balancing act to fall off the wrong end. Problems like refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes dryers and clothes washers continually plague our budget on top the regular issues like growing children and the cost of healthy food. I am not ready to give more or ready to give up on our suburban house and suburban life. Therefore, before I can go after those “other” rich suburbanites I need to go after myself.

I relate to most of the Hsu comments in the first part of his text. I also avoid some aspects of suburbia like Wal-Mart and intentionally try to shop locally and even support the local farmers as much as can be done. I have also given myself to the quest for spirituality similar to Hsu. But it is here that I have found more frustration than Hsu seems to express. As a farmer, the dependence on God and nature were hand in hand. The thankful spirit for the rain and the sun just happened naturally. As a suburbanite, these spiritual actions are rather pushed or even fake. The only time God moments are real is when tragedy is involved. A good example just happened Friday afternoon on our way down to EMU for our nephew Miles’ graduation. We just traveled into the state of Virginia when we saw that the state bird is a red Cardinal. In 2006 Miles’ mother (our sister-in-law) died of brain cancer and during her last few weeks of life, red Cardinals visited her and she shared that they were God’s sign to her that she could make it. Back to Friday, we were no more than a mile or two past the state line when Erika saw a red cardinal flying with us along the road. It seemed to be going 70 miles an hour with us for about ten seconds. We all saw it. To us it was God’s sign that we can make it through the weekend.

I try to keep our garden goals moving forward. Each year we till up more grass and grow more garden crops. Last year was the first season where we actually had enough crops to freeze, blanch or can some for the winter. Our kids really get into the work for a few minutes and they love to eat the fresh food. Even the frozen corn or beans they enjoy and spend time talking about how cool it is that they came from our garden. The education is great but the spirituality is hard. The kids realize that if we don’t get a good crop from the garden, we just go the store. The same dependence on God for livelihood is not there.

In conclusion, I am not sure what to tell true suburbanites. I also see some farmers fall off the same deep end of the same money trap. When farms are sold and money is made they change into different people. Status and wealth replace hospitality and community. In other words, money is the root of all evil and God is lost. “God please help us but don’t do it through tragedy”.

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