Consuming Desire. Text: Mark9:30-37, James 3:13-18
Preached by Rev. James Murray at Dominion-Chalmers United Church, Sept. 20 2009.

According to one of the country's top sociologists, interest in the National Hockey League has been declining over the past two decades. The biggest losses are among teenagers. The University of Lethbridge's Reginald Bibby says in his new book The Emerging Millennials, that immigration patterns, as well as the explosion of entertainment options, are reprogramming our national DNA.

Bibby says this "death of the monoculture" has led to a splintering of individual interests. There are many more consumer choices which leads to fewer pastimes that are truly embraced on a national level. When I was a kid you only had three channels to watch, so on Saturday night it was either Hockey Night in Canada or Lawrence Welk.  Today we have hundreds of choices. As a result, our passion for the game is changing.

While hockey may still be our country's favourite when compared to other pro sports, Bibby notes the sheer number of choices reduces the actual numbers of participants and avid followers. Did you know that for the past twenty years, Canadian children play more soccer than hockey?

We used to define ourselves by which organizations we belonged to. The team you cheered for said something about what kind of a person you were. It mattered which church or service organization you belonged to. In today’s world, our identity is not being defined by our relationships as they once were. Membership in groups like Scouts and the Lions Club are dropping rapidly. As companies become less loyal and workers have to become more mobile, we are no longer being defined by what we do to earn a living. Today we are mostly defined by what we consume. Most of what passes for our culture today is something which we buy.

 
The five biggest entertainment industries are: at number one, Television. At number two, Video Games. At number three, the Hollywood movie industry. And very close behind at number four is the pornography industry. In fifth place is the music business. While going to the movies used to be considered a social activity, Hollywood now makes most of its revenues from selling their movies on DVD for watching at home. The pornography industry is also based on DVDs or on your computer.  Music is now listened to mostly on a set of headphones. These are all solitary forms of entertainment. You consume them alone.

Now television, video games, pornography and movies are all potent forces in our society, because they all deliver a kick. They deliver a powerfully exciting cocktail of pleasure. We live in a world which lives by the maxim “If it feels good, do it.” Our entertainment industry delivers ‘feeling good’ with a cocaine-like level of intensity. Our society is guided by fulfilling its desires, even if fulfilling those desires can ultimately kill us. We often fail to listen to wisdom when desire is luring us. Look how long it has taken for us as a society to move away from smoking tobacco. And still there are people who are resisting the government’s wisdom to curtail smoking.

With the desire for bigger and more potent thrills, the entertainment industry is driven further and further to find novel experiences to sell to us. The desire for novelty has been part of human evolution. We have always been excited by new ideas, new fashions, new music. These newer forms of media are accelerating the desire for novelty, just at the same time our social, economic, technological and political realms are also undergoing significant developments. The very nature of the novelty and the change we experience as part of everyday life is changing.

The scholar Phyllis Tickle believes this significant social change is on a par with other significant social changes we have experienced in the past. Fifteen hundred years ago was the collapse of the Roman Empire. Christianity became the dominant religion in Europe just at the beginning of the Dark Ages.  Political power shifted to the east as Constantinople became the dominant religious capital. The culture of Europe was saved by the rise of the monastic movement as education and science was preserved in the monasteries. The world changed, and Christianity adapted to the changing context.

A thousand years ago, Islam had taken control over Jerusalem and the Middle East.  Charlemagne had re-established Rome and he founded the Holy Roman Empire. As a result of this shift in the political landscape, Constantinople and Rome were fighting over control of Europe. In Religion, this was the time of the Great Schism, as Roman Catholicism separated itself from the Orthodox Churches to become a unique organization. By separating itself from the Orthodox Churches of the East, the Roman Catholic Church was better able to minister to the rapidly developing European identity.

Five hundred years ago, the Enlightenment began. The new world was discovered. The printing press was invented. Constantinople fell, leaving Rome as the sole religious superpower.  And in the middle of that era of massive social and cultural novelty, the Protestant Reformation began. In each case significant cultural developments required the institutional church to adapt so it could minister to people in this time of great needs and great opportunities.

The Scholar Phyllis Tickle believes that what we are going through today is on a par with this every five hundred year change in the culture. We need to understand that it is not God who is changing. God is always creating. God is always loving, merciful and wise. Organized religion is the human response to God’s redeeming work. It is us who are changing and evolving in our understanding of who God is. She believes something new is being born in our churches, which she calls the Great Emergence. That will be the topic of our book discussion on Monday the 28th. 

Tickle believes the decline we are facing is a sign that the Great Emergence is at hand. The old ways of being the church are not as effective as they once were. She believes a more vital form of Christianity will emerge out of this. For we believe God is the source of all novelty and newness. God is the one who invites us to grow and mature. As the culture changes its ways of working and relating, the Church is being invited to adapt and find new ways to live out the great commandment to love God and your neighbour.  The upheaval we are going through forces organized expressions of religion to be reconstituted into a more purified expression of our former self as we let go of some things, and rediscover some neglected parts of our heritage. Tickle believes the range and depth of Christianity’s reach will be expanded by these innovations.

So our task for today is not simply to look at the world and say “That is bad”. Our task is to look at the world to discern what is happening out there. Something radically new is happening out there. We are being invited to search through our history, our traditions and our scriptures to find helpful answers to today’s novel challenges.

Today we live in a world which is consumed with desire. What good news can we bring to a world which is amusing itself to death? Can we dare to say that God’s wisdom is in harmony with desire? God believes desire is good, because it is what drives us forward. God wants us to enjoy this life. When God looked at the creation, said God “this is good.”  As Christians we can say that only God’s wisdom can teach us what is truly worth desiring.

In the letter from the apostle James, we are taught that our desires are headed in the right direction when our behaviour enriches our relationships with all our brothers and sisters. Our desires are healthy ones when they help us to mend our broken relationships. Wisdom teaches us our desires are worthwhile when they lead to a life which is filled with gentleness, peace and mercy. And please notice these are all both individual and social virtues. Gentleness, peace and mercy are what make a common society possible. Progress is never made by our acting harshly or rashly. It is always a good idea to respond to changing circumstances with a spirit of patience, gentleness and as wisdom.
 
When Jesus finds the disciples dreaming of greatness, he doesn’t shut them down. He doesn’t reprimand them for dreaming.  He merely questions what direction their desire for greatness is taking them. Too often we as Christians view the desire for greatness the same way our society does. Power and wealth are what we usually wish for.  Jesus says we should desire wisdom instead of wealth. We should be seeking to be small instead of being great. To be the last of all, the servant of all, is how Jesus defines greatness. It is to live a life of justice, peace and mercy. It is to have the eyes of compassion so you can the small ones, the invisible ones, the forgotten ones.

Now I realize this will be an uphill battle. Wisdom is not sexy. It will have a hard time competing with the flashy electronic world which is entertaining us to death.  But without wisdom, we can only look forward to more alienation. Without wisdom we will be less and less able to resolve these problems peacefully. Without wisdom we won’t be able to welcome the child, the stranger, the lost soul, and offer them a healing welcome. The cost of living without wisdom is killing us.

Will you choose to live your life following the uncommon wisdom of God?
Will you choose to live your life following the healing way of Christ?
Will you choose to live your life following the inspiring newness of the Holy Spirit?

Sources:
Reginald Bibby quote taken from:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/support+weakening+across+Canada/1867...

Phyllis Tickle “The Great Emergence” Baker Books 2008.
www.thegreatemergence.com