The redemption of pleasure as a missional task
What if one day we all stand before God and he judges us for all the possible pleasures he gave us to enjoy, but we failed to enjoy?
posted by nick at 8:04 AM
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
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- Name: nick
- Location: London, United Kingdom
Along with my wife Lisa and our sons Joshua and Daniel we're continuing our adventure with God in Stratford, East London.
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3 Comments:
Dunno... where on earth did this thought come from!? :)
8:04 AM
Hi Chris, the thought sprang from an old rabbinical saying that I came across recently.
It does seem to me that Christendom’s approach to pleasure has somewhat distorted our Hebraic roots and betrayed an unhealthy dualism that suppresses and denies matter which all too often leads to an unhealthy, unbiblical suppression of life.
I’m increasingly convinced that when we define faith negatively (that is, by what we should not do) we emaciate the ‘life in all it’s fullness’ breadth of the gospel. What’s more, the impression given to those who don’t yet know Jesus is that the church suppresses (rather than celebrates?) life.
As Hirsch & Frost query in The Shaping of Things to Come ‘how is it that the church now embodies a Christianity noted for a denial of pleasure and the nullification of life? And how much damage has this done to the cause of Christ through the ages?’
As for the missional potential of pleasure? As we were reminded by Pearl & Gethin during one of our Spiritual Days last year stories like Chocolat provide potent parables of the power of pleasure to redeem and reconcile.
As I chew it over I am convinced that it is unredeemed and undirected pleasure that destroys life. Yet as someone seeking to establish meaningful relationships within our community I am all too aware that people are motivated by their deepest pleasures, and readily recognise that if we can connect these to God, we will establish a vital bridge into the lives of ordinary people who perhaps wouldn’t ordinarily engage with ‘the church’.
Somewhere amongst these ramblings there maybe a kernel of missionary potential?!
11:34 AM
I’m increasingly convinced that when we define faith negatively (that is, by what we should not do) we emaciate the ‘life in all it’s fullness’ breadth of the gospel. What’s more, the impression given to those who don’t yet know Jesus is that the church suppresses (rather than celebrates?) life.
Too right! This is actually something that hit me fairly recently too - we run the risk of defining Christianity as a series of "thou shalt not" statements, instead of emphasising the massive freedom we have. I know it's old, but I love the statement, "Love God, and do whatever you like" - I'm fairly sure that was St Augustine (clever man).
As for the pleasure thing - my take on it would simply be that God gave us the ability to feel pleasure and, if we're attempting to restore the entire world to His ideal, pleasure is a candidate for restoration just as much as morality. Why not help people to explore pleasure while also honouring God?
Now all I have to do is work out how to move from thinking that to actually doing it! :)
12:21 AM
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