Burden of proof
I keep coming back to the same thing: “I don’t want to be a burden on my family”. This statement disturbs me not because it is something I fear, but because it reflects an unconscious buy-in to a culture that I think we need to address. As Christians we are not really called to use the resources that we have been given for ourselves; we are called to share our stuff with each other. Rest assured that the consumerist culture that we live in wants you to think in terms of haves and have-nots - you have the newest and greatest so that you can feel superior to those who haven’t gotten it. The salesmen of our culture want you to live alone, consume single servings, buy your own instead of hold in common. We have even turned prayer into a bartering session with God. How many people see prayer as a way to list their wants and not a way to commune with God? When we feel like we are being a burden, we are really expressing a form or pride. Go read Acts chapter two, and then let’s talk about a church that worked - a church that saw wealth and status as something to use for the common good - a church that saw a faith lived out as a way to turn getting and spending into Kingdom building. That is a church that brought hope. Where is the pride there? When you are building the Kingdom of God, you don’t have time for pride.
I have a friend who is often alone. I told him that he should come to my house in the evenings for dinner when he feels lonely. His responded by saying that he would really like to, but that he would not want to intrude on our family time and that after a while we would begin to get sick of him. Unfortunately, many people feel the way that my friend does, and many hosts and hostesses would feel the way that he described. The effort that we use to mask our messy lives from other people is what drives us to such levels of desperation. We are too fearful to impose when we are lonely, and we are too scared of letting people see our real lives when we have them in our homes.
Boundaries are important, but I am beginning to wonder about who and what are setting our boundaries. Are they healthy or do they reflect a desire to become part of the “get and spend” program? A program that is foreign to the way of Jesus, and represents a life that drives alone in a Lexus instead of one that journeys on foot with others.
- Written by Matt Brown
July 11th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Dale and I have no TV right now, as many of you know. Not only did we cancel our cable, but our TV immediately died, so we can’t even watch movies at home! It is astonishing, and convicting to both of us, how much free time we now have. Not only that, but how much time we spend either alone or just the 2 of us. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but honestly, 2 people can only say so much during a week together. We are realizing that the TV provided substitute social interaction for us, and now we are forcing ourselves to be more social, issue more invitations, try and get out to see people more often. But of course, that quickly grows expensive - common options are movies, coffeehouses, restaurants.
Although it’s been a challenge, it’s been eye-opening and we are enjoying it. I suspect that TV is for many people, as it was for us, a real obstacle to spending time with others.
Although, to be honest, we’re also looking forward to getting a replacement TV in August…