Leonard Sweet’s Post-Modern Pilgrims
E (Experiential) – P-I-C
Experience
When you need to buy a mocha or a washing machine or even a car, where do you go? To the cafe where they served you a lukewarm grande with no whip cream and charged you to remake it? The store who promised delivery and then showed up 3 days late? The dealership whose salesmen were so greasy & shifty that you felt ripped off before you even bought anything? No, you go to the place that gave you the most satisfying experience – to the cafe where the baristas know your name & what you like to drink, to the home store that not only guarantee free delivery, but will take away your old washer, to the dealership where the salesman is so secure about his product that he lays everything out on the table and encourages you to go home and think about it.
It’s all about the experience!
Our postmodern world is defined no longer exclusively by the rational truths presented, but also by the felt experience that they provide. Not one or the other: but both. It may be that Consumer Reports objectively rates the Honda/Ford CRV/Edge as the best car available for you and your family, but will you buy it if you don’t think that it matches who you are? I can’t bring myself to buy a minivan for that very reason 
In our culture, what is ‘right’ and ‘true’ changes daily. The ‘best’ products are replaced by ‘better’ products 3-4 times a year. The ‘7 Ways to be Successful/Happy/Smart/Productive’ change with each new book published. That’s why this quote from Marilyn Carlson Nelson, CEO of Carlson Companies is so appropriate:
In a world where things move at hyperspeed, what was relevant yesterday may not be relevant tomorrow. But one thing that endures is a dynamic relationship that is grounded in an experience that you’ve provided.
Sound like a prophet/priest/king you know? Jesus, maybe?
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. – Mark 13:31
What Jesus promises here is what Ms. Carlson Neslon observes: that what endures through changing times are relationships grounded in experiences. Jesus’ words are not just letters on a page in your Bible: they are transformative promises and guides through which you experience a dynamic relationship with the Triune God! Because Jesus provides the enduring relationship for these changing times, we’ve got to ask ourselves this question:
Will I live the time God has given me, or will I live a time I would prefer to have?
Next Post: Experiential Worship
Tags: EPIC, Experience, jesus, Leonard Sweet, Marilyn Carlson, paradigm