Encyclopedia Britannica and God and Church

I can remember the day when the Encyclopedia salesman came by our house. My dad was a sucker for these things and bought a set of Britannicas. Later he bought a set of World Books too because the Britannica's were too complicated for young readers like myself. I plagiarized my first essays from World Books. I plagiarized later essays (High School level) from Britannica. Well, not completely.

Then this week, I saw that Encyclopedia Britannica is no longer. Does that make the ones my dad still owns collectors items? Perhaps they are worth something.

There are some spiritual lessons in the demise of Britannica.

(1) Knowledge is no longer in the hands of a few. Any kids who can spare a few baht (I live in Thailand) can go to an internet cafe and search the web and get huge amounts of information. No need for an expensive book set anymore.

It reminds me of some of the religious changes that occurred within Christianity as a result of the Reformation. Knowledge is democratized. There are no more "secrets". One of the great things this might mean is the age of Gnosticism is over? Could it be?

(2) The challenge is no longer access to information but sifting through the available information to determine what is high quality and what is not.

So there is still a place for those who have studied a bit more and can help guide us.

(3) Some forms of presentation cannot (and should not) be saved, but the message behind the form is eternal. Britannica might be out of business, but more people are using encyclopedias today than ever. Wikis are incredible.

(4) Churches need to be more like Wiki and less like Britannica. While the content (or message) stays the same, the form in which it is delivered much change. The hard part is figuring out what is message (content) and what is form. I hope and pray we don't use this challenge as an excuse not to make changes. If we do, we'll go the way of Britannica.

The whole thing was brought home to me recently when one of the non-native English speakers approached me after a morning worship service very concerned to understand the difference between "Thine" and "Thy".

My job that week was to be with someone who'd been diagnosed with cancer. Counsel two friends whose interest in Christianity was causing tension in their families. Pray and search for a solution for one of our refugee families. And explain the ins and outs of King James English so a man who has been battling spiritual oppression for years can fully engage in worship with us.

Learning English is hard enough. Worshiping in a language not your own is hard enough. You shouldn't have to learn King James English to be Christian. And I'm afraid if we require it by continuing to use it, we'll find ourselves going the route of Britannica.

But I also know that for some, the beauty of the old language conjures up feelings of God's presence that are hard to replace or replicate. It's just like some people have not (and don't want to) shift to a digital reading experience.

It's a complicated world. But it moves whether we want it to or not. Better to move before it's too late.