Spiritual maturity and the alarm system at CCC

At the "Healthy Congregations" Workshop at Christ Church Cranbrook we learned about "self-differentiation", the process by which healthy individuals and groups define themselves, connect to others, and regulate their own anxiety. This is much like what the third chapter of Ephesians calls "the full stature of Christ," which, according to our baptismal liturgy, is the goal and norm of Christian discipleship. This kind of spiritual maturity contrasts to what that same chapter of Ephesians describes as childishness that is "tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming." At "Healthy Congregations" such immature behavior was described less judgementally, as not so much "trickery and scheming" as the natural response of the brain to danger, real or imagined. Anxiety, particularly when it is chronic, provokes exaggerated responses that are out of proportion to the actual threat, and include behavior such as blaming, herding together, and "fight/flight."
In my experience, it is rare for church people to engage in behavior that is downright evil. Most often,  we just try to make everyone feel better by doing dumb stuff. In any case, the best way to deal with it is to cultivate the "full stature of Christ." In other words, "grow up."
      This process is made abundantly clear to me every time I am responsible for disarming the alarm system at Christ Church Cranbrook. There is something about that system that makes me feel like a ten-year old. It is a case of chronic anxiety originating in childhood feelings of being an intruder, a trespasser, and an outsider, and has little or nothing to do with the fact that, as soon as the door into the church opens, the alarm begins to growl like a junk yard dog. Domesticating an alarm is an adult skill that only becomes an obstacle when chronic anxiety kicks in to exaggerate the threat. 
    That said, the gospel also says that “ unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." I am not sure the Letter to the Ephesians fully expresses the paradox of Christian discipleship, that is, that only a mature adult can fully appreciate childhood, only a prisoner can fully appreciate freedom, and only the dead can fully live.