If you're happy and you know it...

Jason Clark has written this deep but profound post on superficial church.  You might need some wet towels and some time in a dark room but I think even if you struggle with the big words like me the examples give plenty of insight/meaning... so major HT [and if your reaction is like me heh this is hard work, i don't want to consume a post like that, maybe it's a reality check on my blog consumer mentality]...

One of the thoughts that struck me is how much of my life is orientated towards happiness  - even to the extent of day dreaming about different ways of living - you know if i had a £1m, or was famous, was more clever, more profound, or didn't have to work, or could just have sex all the time with streams of beautiful women - my goodness i think i have a solomon complex!  And how much of my life is then orientated in that direction?  How much emotional energy do I invest [or the flip side how much do i worry about not having these things], how much time do they consume?

Here's a true story to illustrate the point - i've just inherited some money so on saturday I went to John Lewis in Kingstom to buy a new tv - now because i had been too lazy to phone up to get a new pin code for my credit card I borrowed Debs.  All was going well, delivery was arranged for today and i punched in the correct pin code - but then the card was selected for a random check, clearly it was not my name on the card [even though i produced my card which is identical bar the name] so it ended up with my order cancelled and the bank cancelling my credit cards.  I was so angry with having my consuming thwarted that i left the shop, phoned the bank and cancelled my account credit card account with them.  Debs used her credit card and phoned up the shop on sunday  - no need for a pin over the phone [ah the irony] and now it's coming next tues - i was still grumpy that i had to wait a whole extra week!  I wanted it now!!

My happiness is wrapped up in consuming, it is wrapped up in in the immediate as well - i will trade longer term happiness for short term pleasure - even if that is mental pleasure of imaging an alt reality to escape too when life gets stressful/hard...

Now the other thing is that I have known i have this money coming for awhile so i have been researching tvs, I have been dreaming about what it will be like, looking at HD, weighing up price, performance, future proofing etc.  I have read websites, studied reviews, looked for a consenus and researched retailers to find a good price and a good service too...  I have been doing this for the last few months and i think that added to my frustration that I couldn't have what I wanted...

I wonder what would happen if i devoted the same amount of time to imagining a different  spiritual me?  I know one of my motivations for getting fit/exercise has been the thought of loosing my belly and love handles - i have been imaging wearing a couple of shirts that i haven't worn for a couple of yrs... imagining how much Debs will appreciate my new shape, imaging how good it will be to play with the boys without having to stop cos i can't breathe... and it is working, i have a soundtrack playing in my head 'sexy boy' by AIR and it is bending my will power to actually go out and run, actually eat less, skip over that beer in the fridge again...

One think i notice when I read the bible is not so much the comprehension of what i read but how it shapes a different rhythm in me - how the words flow over me and infect my mind... how as i read it is not so much what I understand but the echo of the different beat I hear, a shadow of an alternate reality, a glimpse of something where life could be different... Maybe when the bible speaks of meditation on God and his word maybe it is asking me to spend that time dreaming, imaging a life where i was more committed, more giving, more generous, less taking more giving...  where not only my life but the life of the people and places, animals and atoms all vibarated with a new kind of harmony, a different sort of peace, hints of harmonies of a whole harmony...

The danger I think is creating that dream world in my head, let's call it heaven, and i escape to it when i can and wish the world was more like it... or do i start imaging it in the little details of my life, the seat on the crowded train i give up?  the act of kindness of bringing in something nice for my colleagues to eat [that dunking donut stand i pass on the way out of the station looks good] etc.  In fact just dreaming about it now i have an idea to take some donuts in on shrove tuesday and maybe try and infuse something delicious of taste of mouth with delicious taste of alternative reality - i have no idea how but heh it's a dream...

Ok then, help me out here, what ways can you dream about God infusing your ordinary every day life, what little things could you maybe do, maybe even just a smile to someone could be the start... happy dreaming!

Comments

[Duncan McFadzean]

Paul, good post. I think your TV thinking was just good stewardship LOL! I remember Bill Hybels telling a story of how he'd been angry with a store assistant once and it only really hit him when he realised he had to go back and apologise - I've done that once or twice and it hurts.

I try and always say hello to "routine" people in my day - the security guards, the person at Boots, the bus driver etc.

I take time to try and encourage others and to praise them when they have done something well.

But to be honest I'm still working through what this means, I think I have to change in major ways - so I'm trying to work that into the student ministry at MBC and I'm also trying to get involved with the homeless soup van.

Basically I need to live the gospel - through understanding my identity in Christ, through living out the helping of the needy and also to explain the gospel to people in a relevant way. Those 3 steps are actually quite a big shift from where I am at the moment.

[Paul]

Thanks Duncan, yeah i'm with you on that - it is a big shift in so many ways... who says life is boring :)