The Cure For Resignation and Cynicism / Otto Von Wachter
Here are three mini-stories/insights/ideas that I will attempt to weave into a coherent theme! Hope you enjoy them.
Full-gospel church, now with 30% more Jesus!
I ran into an old acquaintance at the Vineyard in Cambridge when I was there for the Culture Center Summit. I asked her how life was going and whether she was involved at church. I thought to myself that, being in another city, if only I was at a cool church like this one then I would be really involved. She seemed kind of blah as I waited for her response, there was little enthusiasm there. She said something like "I'm not sure this is the right church for me". I forgot exactly her words, but basically she felt that the church was kind of shallow, didn't have much depth to it. She said, "I need something meatier, some place where they study and talk more about the Bible". On the one hand, I got what she meant, she felt she needed to go on to the next level in her learning of the Bible. But on the other hand I thought to myself "No, what you really need to do is to get out and DO something with your faith". I felt like I was struck by a flash of insight. I felt like I got something about the story of the rich young ruler in gospels, which Dave S. had mentioned in a blog post just a few days earlier (and I remember scratching my head and not quite getting the reference to it).
It seems to me that in a way, in our affluent society we are all a little like that rich young ruler, searching for significance, looking for the right guru or mentor to give us the answer to the meaning of life. I bet Jesus knew the heart of this man, and he knew that what would give meaning to his life and what would light him up would be to give away his possessions and to love the poor through the huge generosity of giving away his riches. But the rich young man wasn't in touch with his own need for being loving, and he didn't see the connection. He didn't see how all his possessions were actually isolating him, from God and from others. He probably walked away thinking "This guy isn't very deep, what kind of an answer is that?" What I got from my conversation with that acquaintance at church was how much I was the same as her, how I searched for the "right church" as a consumer, looking for a church that has all the right qualities so I could experience being fulfilled. I was looking for that church with authentic flavor, one with 30% more Jesus.
Playing on the court vs. yelling from the stands
I was thinking about something else I learned recently in a course I took called the Landmark Forum. The course leader made the analogy that we can think of life as a basketball game, and we have the choice of being "on the court" or "in the stands". Mostly we make this choice unconsciously. Although we may not be aware of it, this choice of being on the court or in the stands correlates with our actions and even our speech. Thinking back to the blog conversation that touched on Rush Limbaugh, he strikes me as someone who, in the basketball game analogy, fits the role of sports commentator. He has a great understanding of the game, he might even be a genius. But he's not on the court, he's somewhere up in a box overlooking the game, isolated, actually having no effect on the game (because few people take him seriously other than his dedicated listeners who don't have very much power either). It strikes me that someone like Limbaugh actually takes himself "out of the game" by virtue of the role he takes on as a critic.
What if one of the main temptations we face in life, one of the main ways we sin or "miss the point" of life is by taking ourselves out of the game? Maybe after being hurt out on the field, we decide (without consciously realizing it) that we're not going to play in the game anymore, and that it's easier instead to stay on the sidelines and shout from there. Maybe this gives us some of the satisfaction of feeling being a part of the game without the risk of being hurt again.
A walk on part in the war or a lead role in a cage
There's this Pink Floyd song I love that I heard on the radio recently and also had an insight about its meaning. If you're not a Pink Floyd fan, maybe skip the song interpretation or watch the YouTube video of "Wish You Were Here" first. My favorite line in the song is when the songwriter asks (presumably a friend) "Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?" He asks it of a friend who thinks he has it all figured out, has all the right answers (he starts out the song saying "So you think you can tell heaven from hell?"). He thinks he knows the meaning of happiness (thinks he can tell "blue skies from pain"), but has surrounded himself with phony people (can he tell "a smile from a veil"?) He has become cynical and resigned. He has traded his true heroes for ghosts. He may know a lot about the problems in the world, but is not interested in fighting for the solution. That's my interpretation of the song, and it fits with my point, so I'm going to go with it!
Both idealism and realism lead to cynicism, even the cheeriest optimist is bound to become cynical in this world. Interestingly, it seems to me that the only cure to cynicism and resignation is getting out and playing on the court. I like how Pink Floyd says it, because playing the walk on part in the war may not be glamorous, it may not even seem that important. But maybe when all is said and done it's the more satisfying role.
What if one of the main thrusts of Jesus is to challenge us to get out on the court, in the game, in the war? Whether that means giving away your money to help the poor, or going out into the world to share the good news of the kingdom of God. What if it's less important what we believe about every detail of our religion, but that we put our convictions, our core beliefs, into practice? Loving, listening, being in relationship with others. Oh, and don't think that I'm preaching about this to you out of my enlightenment. I'm blown away by this idea myself as I'm writing this, I am confronted by it. Even as I'm writing this, I feel I need to repent of all the "opinions" I have.
What are your thoughts? Are there are areas of life where you, like me, have taken yourself out of the game? Do you have a better interpretation of "Wish You Were Here", or perhaps another Pink Floyd song that may give us deep insights?
