So many of the ingredients that made Buffalo prosperous are gone, and they aren’t coming back. Manufacturing will never return to its previous highs and the Erie Canal will never pump cash through our town.
But we haven’t completely outlived our usefulness–far from it! This is a fantastic place to live, with incredible resources, even if we’re still moving forward out of an outdated economic (and possibly governmental) model. We’re Buffalo Rising, even if we aren’t Buffalo Risen.
Our fate, as a city, seems brighter, but comparable, to that of the traditional newspaper. The monoliths that once dominated the media are now wondering if they can even be profitable or survive.
This article in the New York Times looks at technology continuing to be useful past its prime, giving older companies a chance to re-invent themselves. Despite the cosistent rush into new technology, older
products and processes don’t usually fall immediately by the wayside. The
digital camera was invented in 1981 and Time magazine declared: “Film
is dead,” a little bit prematurely.
Religions have also faced obscurity, and have transitioned–or died. Once upon a time, human sacrifice was the norm, followed by animal sacrifice, followed by ritual sacrifice, or no sacrifice. Religious circles, once contained within a particular ethnicity, have become diverse, world-wide movements. Even God’s own self has come to be understood differently over time.
Yet even as new ways are breaking out, old ways continue. Many people believe that now is one of those “transition times” for many of the ancient faiths. Traditional Christianity certainly is in decline, statistically speaking, at least, and it is my belief that church, as we know it, will go the way of the newspaper, the film camera, and the iceman. Remnants of today’s way will remain, but will mostly be replaced by a new way, barely on the horizon, now.
Many religious organizations (mine included) have this in common with Buffalo: we peaked in the first half of last century, and we need a new way. We need a theology of transition.
What does God have to do with transition? Some see God as working entirely in the past. This orientation will lead to a cling to old ways at all costs. The problem, of course, is that most of our “old ways” are actually “new ways.” The church organ, for example, now beloved by traditionalists, was once referred to as the “devil’s bagpipes,” because church music was sung a cappella, and the organ was for popular music. There are some magnificent old things, in this city, and in the church, but there are also some things that have declined because they could not adapt.
On the other hand, if God is seen as a present force, a giver of life and newness, then the new ways are not threats to everything that is good and right, but may actually be worth considering!
Do we throw out the old ways? Of course not–people have come to depend on them, and the new ways haven’t fully supplanted them yet. Just as with technology, sometimes people need transitional steps. The new faith is borne out of the old faith. Hybrid cars ease people into electric cars. The new Buffalo is built on the foundation of what we’ve been.
Consider how you are working to make you city great. Are you connected to the past? Are you bound by it? I have no idea how (or if) newspapers will survive to the next generation, or churches, for that matter, but innovation and tradition will likely depend on one another.