Spiritual Boundary-Markers

In his book, The Life You've Always Wanted, Ortberg talks about boundary-marker spirituality. He defines these as "highly visible, relatively superficial practices ... whose purpose is to distinguish between those inside a group and those who are outside."

I carry around with me three employee ID badges. I'll not go into the reason that I have three - suffice it to say that it is necessary. All three of them are different employers, and depending on where I am during the day, I'll wear one or another of them. They are superficial - just a piece of plastic that says nothing about the quality of the work that I do. They are highly visible (when I choose for them to be). They distinguish me as an "insider" – a member of the group – and make me different from "outsiders" who don't have my special piece of plastic. They are boundary-markers.

While are spiritual boundary-markers may not be as obvious as my IDs are, we still have them. We use them to help us to identify who "belongs" in our church, and who does not. I have thinking about this concept, and wondered if I could come up with a list of the ones that I have seen (in my church, and in other churches). Keep in mind -- these boundary-markers are artificial and damaging to the Body of Christ.

My list (What would you add?):

• It's sad to say, but the first one that came to my mind was money, and all of the "accessory" identifiers that come with it - career (and the status it carries), employment (as in employed or not), salary, as well as what the money will buy.
• What someone wears can often be a boundary-marker, in at least two ways. First, the quality of the clothing can send out messages to those who are looking for that kind of identifier. In addition, and this might be only true of women, but skirt versus slacks in church can be a boundary-marker. I guess I should say that this IS only true for women.
• A person's history in the church can set them apart. How long have you been a member? Does it make a difference in the way you are seen in the church?
• Education can be a boundary-marker.
• Age – Do we ever make our youth or college aged members feel like less of a part of the church than they are? Are we keeping them apart from "real" membership because of their age? Do we do the same thing to older members?
• I'm not sure that I see this one in my church, but I imagine in some places doctrinal beliefs become a litmus test for membership. Believe the way that the church insists that you believe, or find another place to be a member.
• Gender can be a boundary-marker. It can be used to limit a person's participation in the life of the church or to define it.
• Sexual orientation – We have institutionalized sexual orientation as a boundary-marker in our churches.
• Race – We don't talk about it much, but for some people, race is a boundary-marker.
• And then, I must mention, or one of my "regular" readers will bring it up – clapping. Clapping might be a perfect illustration of a spiritual boundary-marker. Some people use it to judge the spiritual depth of a church member. "If he were really worshipping, if he knew that the music was an offering, he wouldn’t be clapping!"

What did Jesus use? Ortberg says, "Jesus consistently focused on people’s center: Are they oriented and moving toward the center of spiritual live (love of God and people), or are they moving away from it."

Speaking of backwards (yesterday's post), "This was the great irony of his (Jesus') day: The 'righteous' were more damaged by their righteousness than the sinners were by their sin."

Image: Sunrise this morning at the VA.