Quiet desperation

Our generation has a crisis of 'meaning.'

That is, we have become confused about where we should find meaning in our lives.

If you ask people, they will say that they find meaning in life in all sorts of ways - their families, their faith, their jobs, their hobbies, and their recreational interests, etc.

And on the surface, that is true. But our culture (and by that I mean 'consumer culture,' roughly understood) teaches us to find meaning in purely market-driven, materialistic ways. We are told that our happiness is directly connected to what we have the ability to purchase. Meaning is equivalent to the acquisition of certain commodities.

And this is more than just a straightforward process of the advertising industry convincing a consumer to buy a certain product. It is rather the culture that has developed where we are encouraged to constantly spend in order to consume, consume in order to spend more, and keep a wary eye on our neighbor to find out what we should be consuming next.

In this environment, a man's insistence that he finds meaning in his family is corrupted by the market's definition of how that meaning is construed. His understanding of value in the family is tied directly to the home he has bought, the car he drives, the vacation he is able to take, and the entertainment system he is able to purchase. The accoutrements surrounding the family thus become the litmus test of the family's 'success' or level of happiness.

I think Gen X'ers instinctively realize that there is something deeply flawed about this market-driven, consumerist value system. But because we are immersed in it all day, everyday, we don't always know how to escape. To fight misery, we adopt a number of different strategies. One is to surrender to the system, attempting to lose yourself in complete and total participation in it. Another is to find a chemical release, through alcohol, illicit drugs, or prescription drugs. Both approaches are attempts to avoid the deep spiritual illness that results from trying to find meaning in an ultimately meaningless system.

Where should we find meaning, then? Scripture is clear that the only proper locus of meaning is love. It is love of God, who has created us and desires our full redemption. And it is love of our neighbor, who reflects the very image of God to us. When the church is living as the church should, it is the place where we can learn about that love.

I know some of you might be rolling your eyes right now. Just another preacher who says that Jesus is the cure for everything. But look, we've all found ourselves staring obsessively at ads on television, salivating in some store at a shopping mall, and preoccupied with the idea of purchasing this or that product (which, of course, we really do not need).

When that happens, haven't you ever felt a vague sense of unease in your gut? And doesn't living in a world where you are manipulated into situations like that leave you feeling just a little like something is very, very wrong?

I write about this reality in my column this week. I welcome your thoughts.