God or Watermelons?

Simply speaking, we must grow. Now, that simple statement is by no means easy, but it IS the point. We are a group of Christ-following people who can be more than what we are. We must not allow ourselves to just sit and to wait for someone else to step forward and make a space for us to grow into. See, I am convinced that simply stepping into a new place that someone else made for you is not growth. It is merely movement. Moving is easy, growth takes effort.

In church… actually, not just in church, as this seems to be a human condition… So I guess I should say it this way: In life, it seems that people tend towards consumption. It makes sense. We must consume to live. If you don’t eat, you starve. Get hungry enough, and some pretty weird things start looking like food. So we must consume to live. It is not a bad thing – it is nature. But I fear that we have lost perspective. In the past, it seems that our consumption was much more tied to our effort. In the not-too-distant past, if you ate, you worked. You did not just put forth some effort, you worked – dirty, hard, sweaty work.

As a child, I remember my grandfather keeping a garden. He did not need a garden. He lived in the time of grocery stores and had enough money to buy whatever food he and my grandmother would need. But, you see, my grandfather grew up poor, in the poor part of Mississippi, during the Great Depression. There was a significant period of his life when the amount of his consumption was directly tied to the amount of his effort. As an example, if I may... Let’s say that my grandfather desired to eat watermelon as a young man living during the Depression. Well, to have such a delight as a watermelon, they (Note: I said “they.” It was a family effort!) had to plant a watermelon. To do this, his family had to have, or at least have access to, an ample piece of land that could support a garden. This land could not be too wet or too dry. It had to be in the sun, without too many trees around. They then had to work the land, turn it with a hoe or some sort of plow - probably behind a mule (a particularly hot and dirty job). If they owned a mule, they had to feed and take care of it all year.

Once the earth was plowed and prepared for planting, they would plant. Then, they would have to tend the watermelon patch. They had to see that there was enough moisture; No rain or too much rain could both create problems. They had to keep weeds out. They had to watch for pests and for thieves. They had to work almost daily for that watermelon patch to be a success. All this for a watermelon, a luxury food. Now, also consider that they had to do all this during the summer, without an air-conditioned house to retreat to. Then, and only then, they would have a watermelon. In fact, they would have a number of watermelons, for about a month. But once the vine died, there would be no new watermelons. How do you keep a watermelon if you want to eat one in November? You don’t. You get no new watermelons for another year.

Well, you see what I am getting at. An awful lot of work went into eating watermelon for maybe two months out of the year. There were no California or Latin American watermelons coming out of trucks and boats. There was a very limited season for watermelon. Oh, and before I forget, this was just watermelons. We have not even begun to talk about bacon and pork chops, or even beans and peas!

As illustrated above, there was a time, not too long ago, when we humans were very intimately connected to our consumption. In fact, it was really nearly all of time – all of human history, with the exception of the last 80 or so years, depending on where you lived.

Now, I do understand that, even though we can get just about anything we need if we can just get to Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart will ask for money right before we leave. It is true that we have to work for our money. We do a thing for a person who will then give us a check. Yes, we are very intimately connected to the what of how we get our money. Presently, however, there seems to be just enough separation between our consumption and our effort, that it has become too easy to forget what all goes into the watermelon. (Note that the watermelon has slowly become a metaphor!) A watermelon is no longer three months of effort in 100-degree heat. Now, a watermelon is $4.50 and a trip to Wal-Mart. What is $4.50? Thirty minutes at work?

You see, I am concerned that we have lost a vital connection between consumption and effort. In this sense, I speak in a general societal term, at least for the developed world. But my motivation for writing this is specifically to speak to church leaders. Consumerism is alive and well in the Church. I see it often, and to my chagrin, catch myself displaying it. Often, phrases such as, “We need a _____ for that group of people to stay in the church.” Or it might show up as, “We need something for my _____ to do at the church, or they will not want to go.” Even, probably more often than not, “We just can’t handle the _____ at this church, so we are going to go to that church that has better _____.” Every time I hear any one of these statements, there is a miniature Kevin in the recesses of my mind screaming and kicking and running around like a madman. While the vision might seem funny, it does not make me laugh.

When I hear this stuff, I see consumerism. Granted, we are consumers by nature, and that by itself is not bad. But consumerism in the Church is not a good thing. It seems that the consumer mentality tends to make things about the consumer. In church this is not good, because church is not about the consumer. It is about God. I mean, why do we need a better _____ to get people to stay at a church? Really, we have the God that we believe created everything in the universe right here, offering us hope and a personal relationship. Still, we get upset because the _____ is not as good as we would like?

Do we want Christ or watermelons? Watermelons are a metaphor, remember? Really, is it God we want, or some well-intentioned form of Christ-centric entertainment? We need to be about Christ. That means introducing folks to Christ, being examples of Christ in our community, showing love and making sacrifices in the process of following God. That takes organization and focused effort, a plan that will eventually look exactly like any typical church program. BUT there must be a difference! The typical program tends to be consumer-driven, whereas the organization (known as the Church) that seeks to get Christ-followers focused on Christ and people is just an effort to get a group moving in a common direction. It just looks like a program by default.

Many people like watermelons, and there is nothing at all wrong with that. Still, we cannot let the watermelon become the point. Our efforts cannot be about securing a safe supply of watermelons. There must be more. Church cannot just be about supplying good Christian things and good Christian friends. It has to be about following Christ and worshipping Christ, and making the sacrifice that this will require. I suppose you can sum it up simply with this statement: Giving up ours, for His. IT IS NOT ABOUT US. Don’t just consume.