So I’m currently reading a book called The Suburban Christian. Yes – I read a lot of books at the same time. I’m reading it for the Adult Discipleship class at my church. It’s appropriate for us – we are situated in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago. This book is challenging us to think of how our context informs our Christianity. It has been quite the interesting read…

Yesterday we discussed the first of two chapters on consumerism. While we all must in some form or fashion consume stuff, the author, Albert Hsu, is speaking about the “-ism” that is an ideology, a way of defining self and understanding the world around us. This understanding of the world makes everything a commodity and we, the consumer, the master who determines the worth of one commodity over against the other. On page 78, Hsu writes, “Consumer commodification enthrones us – the consumer – and makes everything a function of our own choosing.” Everything becomes about “me”, what “I” want, and how something can serve or satisfy “me”. It kind of strikes me as self-worship – I am the most important person, and must be satisfied at all times.

One of the points made in class this morning was the fact that this particular way of looking at life is dehumanizing. People are no longer seen as men and women made in the image of God, but as slaves to the desires of the self, important or valued only the extent that they satisfy these desires. In particular, anyone who stands in the way of my desires ceases to be human in my eyes, and are instead an obstacle that must be removed by whatever means so that my desire can be gratified.

The point from Sunday’s class that I seem to be parking on right now is the idea that consumption is not just about material stuff. When we think of consumerism, we instantly think of malls, brand names, the next new techy gadget that must be bought. But there are many things we can “consume” – knowledge, music, TV, movies, news, the Internet, blogs (*gulp*), books. We “consume” quantities of all of these things – to what extent does that consumption define who we are? And how does our consumption of such things affect our relationships with one another, and the Lord?

For example: How does my time spent on the Internet affect my relationships with friends, family, my roommates? Am I willing to neglect these relationships in order to write my next blog? Do I spend too much time pouring over blogs and news websites, or watching CNN or Law and Order CI to engage in conversation with the people around me, call a friend I haven’t spoken to in a while – or even engage the Lord through prayer and His Word? To what extent would I lose a sense of myself if these things were taken away from me?

I am a major consumer of sudoku puzzles. I love them! The harder to solve the better. But I often find myself wandering into my room after work, picking up one of my sudoku books and starting one puzzle. Two or three hours later I have solved lots of puzzles and gotten nothing else done. By the time I realize this, it’s time to prepare for bed so that I’m ready for the next day. All the plans I had to chat with my roommates to see what’s going on in their lives – gone. My plan to read or to work through the next lesson of the bible study I’m supposed to be doing – ruined. And prayer is an afterthought I try to sneak in as I’m falling asleep. Now, sudoku is great – an awesome way to engage the mind, and for someone with Fibromyalgia, this is a good thing. But perhaps I am spending a little too much time “engaging my mind”, and not enough time engaging the people in my life, spending time with the Lord, or other endeavors that are more important than conquering the next puzzle… 

When does it become too much? And how do we assess that for ouselves? I believe it will look different for different people. For me, it’s limiting my sudoku puzzle solving to one or two per night, among other things. )

One member of the class yesterday asked the question: What are we willing to do without? To the extent that our current values do not match those of God’s Kingdom, are we willing to change them so that they do? Are we willing to “inconvenience” ourselves for the sake of living as ministers of the Gospel in every aspect of our lives?

That’s a lot to chew on. I suppose I won’t be getting much sleep tonight.

Grace and peace….