Peacock tongues and Polynesian kababs
Those whose lives have been one long grim slog have my permission (without offence to me) to fling away from this piece in acute irritation. The remarks are addressed to those of us that have done quite well in life and still aren’t satisfied. They’re addressed to those among us that want an already good life fine-tuned so that every "right" we can imagine is fulfilled. (Not that that’ll ever happen. So many of us with plenty to be happy about will spend much of our time in sour discontent, like Ahab who had everything but went to bed, thoroughly peeved because Naboth wouldn’t sell him his lovely garden. Compare 1 Kings 21:4, and the story there.)
Shape a community or a nation and its words reflect the change. In the West the word "freedom" stresses individual rights, his or her independence, the fact that he or she is a free-standing unit among many. That’s not what it meant in ancient Greece, for example. To be free then and there meant that the person had a right to share in the shaping and governing of the society of which they felt they were a part. A slave had no vote, a resident alien had some influence but only the free had a genuine share in how the society would function and the direction it would take. Of course, this assumed that they cared about the society as a community in which they lived, and that assumption was part of the makeup of the people. But even that has changed significantly (hasn’t it?)! Freedom has come to stress the individual and the individual talks mainly of his or her individual rights rather than their right to shape and guide for the better the society of which they’re a part. So J.F Kennedy’s famous phrase, "Ask not what America can do you for you, but what you can do for America" is more at home in Greece’s past than in the West’s present. "What’s in it for me?" is the essence of freedom. "As a citizen, society owes me..." and a list as long as a football field follows.
It’s this fine-tuning that hacks me off. Nothing is to be overlooked; I have my rights! The rude waiter, the irritable shop assistant, the abrupt civil servant, the child that doesn’t express gratitude, the husband that isn’t interested right now in "talking it all out" or the wife who’s too busy to pour oil on my hurt ego—none of this is to be tolerated! I shouldn’t be treated this way. It doesn’t matter that on the whole my life is filled with pleasing experiences, multitudes of tiny pleasantries, scores of major gifts and wondrous relationships—riches that I could list with ease if I were in the mood. I want more! It’s my right.
We do it in marriages and other family relationships. Because we’re capable (certainly in the abstract, and for many of us in the concrete) of becoming better and finer people our relationships can grow in richness. And we should expect it and work toward that. (Did I really need to say that?) But consciously attempting to fine-tune something that is growing in the right direction can backfire. We go to some marriage seminars (often marvellous things and sometimes essential) and come away discontent. What is pictured there is a degree of sensitivity to one another’s felt needs that is unhealthy! Things we hardly would have noticed now loom big. Storms in teacups begin to look like tsunamis and silly stuff that we shrugged off now must be "thrashed out". Words and looks that we know are not appropriate become assaults against our very person when previously we saw them as part of the rough and tumble of life—to be noted before moving on. (Do I need to qualify all this with statements about the obvious?)
We do it in our religious life. We don’t ask what we can do for the congregation (or the church as a whole); we want to know what the congregation can do for us. How many programmes do they have that meet our felt needs and how close do they come to making us feel blessed and content? They mustn’t allow us to leave the building not quite "soaring" or "richly blessed". They must take into account all our conscience concerns or respond adequately to all our biblical or theological reservations. Bless me, if we judge it to be a matter foundational to faith then we must respond to it as such, but is everything a salvation and fellowship issue? Or is it of such magnitude that our personal consciences cannot abide the company of those we believe are in Jesus Christ? Maybe our consciences are too fine-tuned! Even should it be the case that this view or that on this text or that purpose is mistaken—does that mean we should lunge for the Yellow Pages and go church-hunting, one more time?
Vast needs stare at us! A new creation beckons us! A destiny has embraced us and we’ve been entrusted with a mission with cosmic dimensions and we demand more! We press church leaders—leaders too anxious to please us and some eager to make a name for themselves by promoting the presently popular—we press leaders for more and more and when we get it...we ask for more. We don’t ask for more of the riches of the everlasting gospel, or to be led into a deeper fellowship with Christ (a la Philippians 3). We want the "church cafeteria" to have more on the menu of what we have a taste for. Don’t bother us with profound biblical and theological issues, don’t gouge us with conviction about who we are why we are here, don’t torment us with our hoarding and don’t remind us that one of these days we’re going to meet the earnest God that has given his all in holy love (compare 1 Peter 1:13-21). No, just keep delightfully surprising us with new ways to make us feel blessed. ("Oh, look, peacock tongues and Polynesian Kababs are on the menu today.")
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.