Blog

For Wilshire Baptist Church

“What do you want for Christmas?” I used to be so eager to make a list when I was asked that question: toys, games, bicycles and balls –everything you’d expect. And then as I got older and on into adulthood, the wants evolved into clothing, electronics and gadgets. I quit presenting a list but would name a few things if asked. I’m slow to respond at all now because I don’t want anything.

“OK, then what do you need?” Alright, that’s a different question, and I do have some needs. Or do I? My needs are mostly “first-world needs” – things like a rubber cargo space protector for the new SUV or the latest smart phone upgrade. Those would be nice to have, but they’re conveniences and not real needs.

Continue reading “Wants and Needs”

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Sitting in a doctor’s waiting room this week, a flat-screen TV filled the room with noise from screams, bells and applause as a woman picked her way through silver briefcases of cash on “Deal or No Deal.” I looked around the room and nobody was watching. Instead, they were filling out forms on clipboards, scrolling on their phones and staring out the window. One person was dozing.

A few days earlier on Saturday, we sat in the stands at Baylor’s McLane Stadium, watching the last football game of the year. Between plays and in every other non-football moment, two college bands played, a stadium DJ pounded our heads with music, and the PA announcer shouted to the crowd to “stand up and make some noise.” That seemed redundant with the bands and DJs all playing and making noise at the same time.

Continue reading “Waiting in Silence”

First published, November 21, 2012

“When Black Friday comes,
I’m gonna dig myself a hole,
Gonna lay down in it ‘til
I satisfy my soul.”

The song by Steely Dan is said to generally be about economic excess and financial disaster, and since it was recorded in 1975 it’s definitely not about our current cultural tradition of shopping mania on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Still, I won’t let that stop me from using it out of context to make a point.

I don’t want to condemn Black Friday completely, because many well-intentioned people take advantage of the discounts on that day to buy nice gifts for their families and friends. And the stores they visit employ people who need the paycheck to provide the basics of life for themselves and their families. That’s all good. Still, the day carries a strong scent of self-indulgence and out-of-control consumerism that is troubling.

As a society, we have twisted the meaning of success to focus on what we have rather than who we are and what we do. The result is we want and want and buy and buy in hopes of satisfying our souls, but instead we find ourselves laying in a hole. It may be a financial hole from spending what we don’t have. But it also may be an emotional hole from discovering that all that stuff doesn’t make us happy or whole. What’s more, that gift we bought someone doesn’t secure or mend a relationship after all. It’s a sad irony that some people go to their graves already trapped in a hole of impossible expectations.

Okay, now I’ll twist the song in a positive direction. The hole to lay down in during Black Friday is the one that the Apostle Paul wrote about – the one where you die to your own ambitions and society’s temptations and follow Christ in a life focused on relationships. It’s a life where satisfaction comes from spending less time shopping for gifts and spending more time gifting yourself to others – in whatever form that may take.

I’ve never participated in Black Friday, not because I’m a good person but rather because I hate shopping. That’s an easy way for me to avoid the mania (and wag a condemning finger at everyone else). Still, even someone like me who won’t go near the malls on Friday needs to look closely at what kind of hole I’m digging and where I’m laying my life.