Crowds

on April 23, 2011 by Walt Dilg

The thing about crowds is that you can lose your individual identity and your sense of personal power, and find yourself getting caught up in the group’s emotions, moving along toward the group’s purposes.  Gangs know this, the military knows this, community organizers know this, and religious leaders know this.  The emotional power of the group can turn the will of the individual.

Yet, when we reflect upon it, this kind of bending can be for the good, as well as the bad.   As a recent review of Tina Rosenberg’s new book, Join the Club, stated, this group influence (the author called it peer pressure) can be employed for the good.  A church community tries to set an example and teach lessons that shape an individual’s thoughts and behaviors.   We are socializing and traditioning, this is true, and we are shaping people for the future. 

Think about it.  Just think about the kind of social revolution there would be if each church successfully taught it members and then helped them really live out Jesus’ command to love their neighbor?   Now that kind of changing of the world would be an exciting reason to come to church!  O blessed day!