Dissatisfaction and the prophetic potential of abstinence et al?

Dissatisfaction can be a dangerous thing. It can be dangerous in two ways.

The first danger, the danger that I believe we must do everything in our power to avoid, is the danger of retrenchment and disengagement. Those of us who seek to follow Jesus must resist the tendency to retreat into Christian ghettos from where we piously point a finger of condemnation and sanctimoniously shake our heads disapprovingly at the state of the world around us.

The second danger is different, for it’s a desirable danger. A danger that has the potential to radically reshape the cultural norm. Dissatisfaction can and I believe should drive us to be dangerously and dramatically different. Dissatisfaction should compel us to engage in evermore bold and creative ways as we seek to accentuate our ‘alternatives’.

For me personally abstinence represents one such ‘alternative’, but it’s not the only way, far from it. After all it's far easier to kid ourselves that we are changing the world (by not allowing alcohol to pass our lips?) than it is to actually change the world.

It is easier to 'comment' on the effects of alcohol misuse than to deal with the effects and to offer practical solutions. As Salvationists it is far easier to embroil ourselves in mere institutional tittle-tattle than to actually engage in meaningful and mature debate on the real issues of the day. It is easier to write to the Editor of The Salvationist than it is to write to the local MP about the continuing liberalisation of the licensing laws of our country. It is far easier to enforce an ‘unquestionable’ policy of abstinence on young and old alike than it is to enter a school and get involved in substance misuse education. It is far easier to go to bed at 10pm after the Vicar of Dibley than it is to get down the local park and help the inebriated teenagers get home safely. Its easier to pretend that our children and young people aren't like that and don't face the same problems and temptations.

It's all easier, but who said anything about the Christian life being easy? As Grahm Tomlin writes ‘to maintain a lifestyle that is different from the culture around us is lonely work’ (The Provocative Church, 2001:14)

Ultimately, virtue is a bit like money and style - if you have to tell people you have it you probably don't! If there is any virtue or merit in our convictions and actions, any power in our prophetic witness then people will recognise it for themselves, if not we must question their value and meaning.

However challenging, however lonely each of us has to decide how we are going to channel our dissatisfaction.