Our nephew came over to the house one day last week, and brought his Guitar Hero with him. If you're not familiar with Guitar Hero, it is essentially an interactive game in which the "player" (and I use that word very loosely) is equipped with a "guitar" (another word I use very loosely) that is a linked to a game console (like a PS2) which is also linked to your TV. And as I understand it, the "player" takes the "guitar" thingy, turns it on, and the game console begins to play some classic Rock & Roll song over the TV. As colored notes cascade down the TV screen, the"guitar player" must press the corresponding color-coded fret buttons on the neck of the guitar -- precisely as the notes hit the bottom of the TV screen. Whew! It's all very complicated to anyone over 15 years old -- and apparently not real easy even for kids.Carl Sandburg once wrote, "Let's be honest now For a couple of minutes Even though we're in Chicago." Maybe we could apply that suggestion to life in the church. Much of what we (note: 1st person plural) do in the church, ostensibly in the name of Jesus, much of what we spend money and time and talent on (meetings and programs and activities and stuff) has very little to do with actually following Jesus. I'm not sure how we got into this, but I am sure that's so. Maybe it's because we forget sometimes that becoming a disciple of Christ is a life-long journey, and not a moment in time when we "give our hearts to Jesus" (and I'm all for giving one's heart to Jesus), and so we mistakenly think we've "arrived." I don't know, maybe. Or maybe we forget that we need to develop certain practices in our lives, practices that take a long time and great effort to learn. And maybe we've found things, good things, religious things, things that are a lot easier than turning the other cheek, feeding the poor, telling others about Jesus, taking up our cross and we've hidden inside these good things instead of abiding in Jesus. Maybe. Let's be honest now for a couple of minutes even though we're in the church. Isn't it possible that we've created a safer, simpler, more socially acceptable version of what Jesus calls us to be and to do. It's close. It's very much like the real thing -- and sometimes, by God's grace it even is the real thing. But not that often, not really.
Benjamin, our 14 year old son, was excitedly telling me about his Guitar Hero experience late the other night.
"Is it hard to do?" I asked.
"Oh yeah. You have to practice for hours and hours to be any good at all."
"And does it teach you how to play a real guitar?" It was an honest question. Promise.
"No, dad. Geez," rolling his eyes. I am so stupid sometimes.
"It doesn't teach you how to play a real guitar?"
"Nope," uttered in pretend exasperation. A playful smile crossed his face.
"So let me get this straight: it's a game which is designed to have a "player" hold a "guitar" or at least something that looks like and functions similarly to a guitar which also requires hours and hours of practice just so the "player" can master the like-a-guitar-thing without ever learning how to actually play a single song on a real instrument? Right?"
"See, dad? Even you can learn new things."
"Ben, here's an idea: instead of practicing for hours on Guitar Hero, why not practice on a real guitar and learn to play, you know, like real songs?"
He just stared at me a few seconds with a blank "does not compute" look on his face and just turned back to whatever he'd been doing.
Now, I'm not against games. I love games. I'm not even really opposed to Guitar Hero (taken in moderation). Lord knows I've spent a few evenings playing Monopoly and am yet to buy my first railroad or hotel.
But isn't there something sad, something empty about spending one's life practicing something that is very much like the real thing? Close. Close, yet not... not quite it.
10 comments:
I very much like your blog. Thank you.
Ted Michael Morgan, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Thanks Ted! Great to have you visit.
OK now you've gone to meddling. Every Sunday at 8am about 30 intelligent adults gather to spend an hour writing care notes, and getting a sermon preview. I do it for the information and directives and because I am supposed to, but man, what if we actually helped someone instead? Tom tells us we meet too much and we need to go actually do something.
Unnecessary meetings would be a place to refocus on what counts, but I think the early Sunday morning meeting, if spent in prayer, is "kingdom time" well spent. Remember Barth's famous quotation, "To clasp one’s hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world"? That makes a "routine" prayer breakfast sound sort of counter cultural -- and significant. I would concur.
you're asking about the difference between church-work and the work of the church, maybe? and again, you're wandering dangerously close to the edge of suggesting that those who sing in the choir and serve communion and teach sunday school and rock babies in the nursery and go to board meetings might, just might, end up hearing jesus say 'i never knew you.'
prophetic voices never know when to quit.
Good point, if we just run off half-cocked without entering into a spirit of prayer, we may end up doing what we want to do instead of what God intended. ie: Crusades, Creflo Dollar, Jim Jones, etc. I'm glad we start everything at PCC with prayer. I just hope we are listening to what He tells us to do.
I completely agree that prayer is important, and that is where we should start. However, while on Earth at least aren't we always going to be "half cooked", at least to some extent? If we wait until we've got it completely figured out and are 100% positive about everything then I know I'd never get anything done. But maybe that's just me. Plus isn't prayer supposed to lead to action? Isn't that an essential part of prayer. We're supposed to be listening, not just talking, and not just hearing, and the difference with listening is that it involves action. Also to quote Jewel, "There are plenty of people who pray for peace. But if praying were enough it would have come to be." If we are the hands and feet of Christ, then prayer must lead to us acting on behalf of Christ. We can't just sit around and think that God is going to come down here and fix all of the world's problems without us lifting a finger.
Hey Courtney,
I agree with you that prayer should lead to action -- although I might want to word it, "prayer should lead to MORE action." I think it's a rather biblical view to suggest that prayer is not the prelude to "doing" something; prayer IS doing something.
Maybe we could explore your last sentence: "We can't just sit around and think that God is going to come down here and fix all of the world's problems without us lifting a finger." I'm not so sure about that. Maybe. But maybe God is going to come down here and "put the world to rights" (NT Wright) whether we sign up to participate or not. I think that is a significant part of the Xn hope. It's not that God needs our effort or that our effort brings about change (at least not in any full and lasting sense). Rather it is that our action (seeking justice and mercy for the poor, etc) is done in witness to and in anticipation of the coming kingdom in which God's will shall be don on earth as in heaven. And it is God, not us, who brings that to fruition -- maybe even in spite of our efforts.
I was there when you asked that question to Ben!!!!
I'm struggling here. I really get N.T.W.'s call to begin setting this world to rights, but Raymond Edmund Brown's N.T.Commentary on Paul warns that what we are doing may be building a Tower of Babel to our own ego's. Is the point to improve this world or to improve our own souls? Even knowing we are going to screw it up anyway, I can't just go sit on a mountain top and wait for God to do it all.
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