{"id":33997,"date":"2023-11-08T16:06:20","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T00:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=33997"},"modified":"2023-11-08T16:06:20","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T00:06:20","slug":"pure-desire-for-something-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/pure-desire-for-something-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Pure Desire for Something More"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cUnless we attend to these deeper workings of culture, Theological reflection will miss the most profound challenge of consumerism\u2013the commodification of culture\u2013the reduction of religious beliefs, symbols, and values to objects of consumption.<\/em>\u201d[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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What is My Desire?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth be told, when I saw what was scheduled on my calendar from June 28-July 1, 2023, I came very close to canceling my plans and just staying home to pack for my Dad\u2019s funeral. \u00a0I wish I could say I chose to keep the commitment for loftier reasons, but it was my husband, Brad, who insisted I keep my two night reservation at Mount Angel Abbey in Mount Angel, Oregon. \u00a0There were things I wanted to talk about with God: longings, failures, hurts, expectations; however, I could only imagine that I would talk to God about the sudden loss of my Father, a person with whom I spoke to everyday on the phone since the day I left for college. \u00a0In the midst of a very busy season of travel, writing projects and family gatherings, I was aware of the inner chaos that needed attention. So I kept my commitment out of desperation and my history with God. Just days before, a friend handed me Trevor Hudson\u2019s book,\u00a0Seeking God: Finding Another Kind of Life<\/span>\u00a0with St. Ignatius and Dallas Willard. \u00a0Hudson uses the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius as an outline for our seeking journey. Sitting on the top of the sun-filled roof terrace my first afternoon, I read the first Ignatian question: \u201cWhat one word would describe the general mood of your life and faith right now? Tell God why you choose this word, and ask God to shed light on what your next step along the seeking path may look like.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What Is Culture\u2019s Desire For Me?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As strange as it may sound, the Ignatian questions posed to my soul the following two days and my honest responses, stayed with me for weeks, even months. The practice of being alone with God outside of my normal routine was radical because as Ruth Haley Barton says, \u201cChallenge[s] us on the level of culture: there is little in Western culture that supports us into what feels like unproductive time for being and listening.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 What I always take with me after days alone with God is a deep knowledge of my desire for something more: a desire to move beyond religion, distraction, and the real problem that Vincent Miller presents in his book this week,\u00a0Consuming Religion<\/span>, \u201cEverything that was once directly lived has moved away into representation\u2013religion is reduced to commodified consumer content.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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Who Controls Our Desires?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If the readings this year have told us anything, they tell us that the social world in which we live\u2013at least for the majority of people in advanced societies, have habits and tendencies formed by consumption. We learned from Polanyi[5]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0about the Great Embedding: if human beings are fallen then people will exchange community for commodities by acting selfishly when transactions are not submerged in social relationships. We also learned about the Protestant Ethic from Max Weber[6]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0who argued that hard work, thriftiness, and discipline of self are marks of God\u2019s favor; the only way we could know we are saved is through money\u2013make capital and produce wealth. \u00a0And, Bebbington, who was obsessed with epistemology through Evangelicalism from 1700s-1980s. Finally, Clark[7]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0who claims it was consumer culture and behaviors. He argued that Bebbington was partly right that knowledge was power but capitalism was the problem\u2013people began to base their faith in God on things.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Does Consumer Culture Form Our Desires?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Like the books mentioned above, Miller\u2019s map making takes us deeper into consumer culture by adding one more layer about the haunting problem of commodification of culture. Much of the book details how things became valued in exchange for our very lives as we saw a fundamental shift from \u201cbeing\u201d to \u201chaving.\u201d \u00a0He writes, \u201cNot only has consumer culture succeeded in turning countless people into shallow narcissists, but it has also encompassed those who attempt to hold out against religious traditions.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0I found myself deeply relieved as he ended the book with hope as he argued that consumer culture is not a culture but a, \u201cset of interpretative habits.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 Miller ends the book with tacit proposals for addressing the dangers of consumer culture. \u201cGood,\u201d I thought to myself, \u201cWe just need to meet in smaller spaces and give others the lead in writing our liturgies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pure Desire for Something More<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

But those ideas alone don\u2019t feel satisfying to all we have read. \u00a0It\u2019s here where I recall Miller\u2019s chapter 4 titled, \u201cDesire and The Kingdom of God,\u201d where he discusses how human beings find their most ultimate meaning. \u00a0The human spirit cannot find satisfaction with anything that is finite. \u00a0As I finished Miller\u2019s book, I almost wanted to sidestep this truth because even though I can spend two days alone with God, pray throughout my day and worship our Creator with words and music, I find myself increasingly frustrated at myself when I look at my life: I am caught between a deep longing for God and a deep desire to consume things. Is God alone whom I enjoy? Am I willing to see my idolatrous attachments? If only things were so simple.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you attend to the deeper workings of culture as a Christian leader? \u00a0For now, I remind myself of Augustine\u2019s opening lines of\u00a0The Confessions:<\/span>\u00a0 \u201cYou have made us for Yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.\u201d[10]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n
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[1]<\/a>\u00a0Miller, Vincent. Consuming Religion. P. 19<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0Hudson, Trevor. Seeking God: Finding Another Kind of Life With St. Ignatius and Dallas Willard. p.21.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0Barton, Ruth Haley. \u00a0Invitation to Solitude and Silence. P. 31.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0Miller, Vincent, Consuming Religion. P. 96<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0Polanyi,Karl. \u00a0The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Max Weber, \u201cThe Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0Clark, Jason. \u00a0Clark, Jason. Evangelicalism and Capitalism (Ch. 4 \u2018The Great Disembebbing: The Search for Identity Within the Market\u2019 Online Chat. October 23, 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[8]<\/a>\u00a0Miller, Vincent, Consuming Religion:Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture. 2004 P. 144<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[9]<\/a>\u00a0Miller, Vincent. Consuming Religion. P. 194<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[10]<\/a>\u00a0Miller, Vincent, Consuming Religion. P. 117.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cUnless we attend to these deeper workings of culture, Theological reflection will miss the most profound challenge of consumerism\u2013the commodification of culture\u2013the reduction of religious beliefs, symbols, and values to objects of consumption.\u201d[1] What is My Desire? Truth be told, when I saw what was scheduled on my calendar from June 28-July 1, 2023, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2908,2579,2879,2910,2909,990,2281],"class_list":["post-33997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-consumingreligion","tag-dlgp01-bebbington-clark","tag-dlgp02-clark-polanyi","tag-ignatius","tag-vincentmiller","tag-augustine","tag-desire","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33998,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33997\/revisions\/33998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}