Yeah, Whatever

Mike Todd - he of Waving or Drowning fame - is brilliant. Absolutely. He's written a post called A Fork Cross in the Road for which he fears he will burned in effigy. I doubt it will come to that but who am I to say? This world is an anarchist's dream.

Last night the Resident Love Goddess and I sat and watched the season premiere of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.They do some amazing renos for some deserving people - and they deserve to be lauded for the work they do. But what kept nagging at me as I watched the show was something more than the number of times they focused on the various family members crying, or asked questions designed to start the tears, as if to heighten the drama. Underlying the entire show was an assumption that says, "Now you have a beautiful home. Now your life will be good." I can't quite put my finger on it, but after reading Mike's post I can't help but think the problem isn't just that we don't care, which is enough in itself, believe me. It seems like so much more than that - like we're just screwed up on so many levels that everything seems fine. As I said, I can't quite put my finger on it. It's greed, it's selfishness, it's short-sightedness, it's misplaced values and priorities, it's an essential misunderstanding of the message of Christ, it's egotism, it's ethnocentricity, it's... I don't know, it's almost like we have to invent a new word for the complexity and sweep of screwed-upness the world is in. Total Depravity comes to mind, though that term might be overworked in some circles.

I think our moral bankruptcy is, essentially, the absence of any connection whatsoever between our individual rights and freedoms and our collective responsibilities. This may say something about the nature of democracy and it's relentless elevation of the individual above the village. Democracy is the single most pervasive paradigm of our society, having such reach as to have compromised even the gospel of Christ with a cross that speaks to the guilt free life following the sinner's prayer, the apostrophe always before the 's', and never after. I don't know how we can read the Lord's Prayer, or the Sermon on the Mount or the Ten Commandments and not recognize the collective nature of those documents. I don't know how we can watch a show like Extreme Makeover Home Edition and not recognize that's something's wrong. I don't know how we can go on like this. 

This week, in our small, fair city on the shores of The Tiny Perfect Lake, two men died. One drowned in a small creek, in less than six inches of water. The other was found in the marina. In both cases a street person drank too much, passed out, fell into the water and drowned. Their names have been withheld pending notification of next of kin and I understand the significance of that. For right or wrong, for good, bad or otherwise, however, these men were members of our community and it feels very much like they are every bit as faceless and nameless in death as they were in life.

I don't know what to say about that, either.

Comments

[Mike]

Well said, RWK.

I think what it is is... not Jesus. That's about the best way I can put it.

[Mike]

PS. I cried like a baby during season 1 of Extreme Makeover, but now it's become way too excessive.

[Mich]

I agree that it is hard to put one's finger on it. But there is something, alright, like a malaise. Sometimes I feel like I'm playing a game that somebody else started and I don't get the rules or that I've joined a program already in progress and I'm trying to figure out the plot.

Two people drowned who each had a story. All that comes to mind is "Lord have mercy".

Mich

[barrendmind]

indeed

[reesta]

I read the link and agree fully with what Mike wrote - I had not thought of the money in terms of that - having money to save our lifestyle but not for the hungry. I also agree that we need to stop being "posers" for Jesus if we are not willing to do as He has instructed us especially in the areas of social justice.

I don't agree with your take tho, RWK on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I don't think anyone on that team thinks they have solved all the problems of the family they are building the home for. They know that they can't bring a loved one back from the dead or cure a disabled person or change the financial circumstances of the people - altho on more than one occasion the builders have paid off the morgage on the property or given them enough money for a year's worth of utilities. What the show does is eliminate one of the sources of stress that these families are facing - inadequate housing. That is huge. I think they also give like Jesus because they not only fill the family's cup but fill it to overflowing with a house that none of them could ever hope to achieve on their own. Often with handicapped features or creating a safer place for the family. What I like about the show is the genuine caring they have for people and how happy is appears to make them feel to have blessed them with the talents that they have. And if you watched the 100th episode where they brought back former families to help someone else - ALL had had their lives changed for the positive.

Sometimes eliminating the biggest stresser in a person's life gives that person enough relief that they can go on and deal with and handle the other issues and that is what I think they do.

We can't fix all of anyone's lives and this should never be an excuse to do nothing (and I don't think you do nothing - this is just a general remark). I think if we - especially as Christians - contributed to the body of Christ in a healthy manner using the gifts, talents and resources we had - that we could likewise change people's lives.

Instead we hide in our churches in a mistaken believe that we are somehow more holy and acceptable to God because we are "not in this world" which is SO NOT what this scripture meant us to do.

[the lady at the end of the couch]

I gave up on EMHE several years ago. It was around the time I started noticing the growing number of product placements.

True, the mortgage is sometimes paid off, but not without cameras present, lots of drama and a swelling violin score. The music in this show is incredibly manipulative.

True, the families love each other, but there is no scriptural charity in this program. There is the romanticization of suffering that encourages people to make themselves pitiable and noble in the hope that someone will notice and help.

A twisting and perversion of the already perverse American Dream. "If you work hard enough (suffer photogenically enough), you can succeed."

Charity as a spectator sport. Charity as pornography. Charity as an ad for Sears.

Not that I'm cynical, or anything.

[John Lunt]

There's one solution to moral bankruptcy. It's repentance. It's not just saying God, forgive me I failed. It's about changing the way we think AND the way we act. We've identified this moral bankruptcy. It does no good to point fingers, whether at the church or the government. Jesus spoke to us personally as disciples - as his followers and told us what to do. If we become Kingdom oriented and make the decision to pick up our cross and follow Christ. To sacrifice for those in our community or around the world, to love God and our neighbor, we can see things change.

RWK, I know that you and many of the readers here already do that, but I am not defeated, I am more committed than ever.

I have been working more and more to become a giver and to simplify my life. That's taken on a new urgency. The last few days, I've been thinking, "should I take my money out of the bank. What if the bank fails?" I don't have a lot, but I really didn't lose it.

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced I have to trust Jesus. I'm going to put it in a safe place, the Kingdom of God, which doesn't mean giving to some institution, but to the work of the Kingdom, whether that is supporting a food bank, giving to Feed the Children, taking necessities to the homeless or senior shut-ins. It also means giving to missions and the proclamation of the good news.

We are part of the Kingdom of God. Let's get about our Father's business. I think he can take care of us - and he can take care of his church