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Consumerism and Christianity
Josh Cramer • Feb 21, 2024
Some thoughts on some Christian thinkers on Consumerism
I was listening to The Holy Post
on the way to the office this morning, and Phil, Skye, and Kaitlyn were reflecting on market forces in American Evangelicalism, taking off from a Russell Moore piece in Christianity Today, which was working from a book by Dr Leah Payne.
That's a lot of launching points from within Christian media, and actually will help me make the point I want to make.
The Holy Post reflections pointed to the ways that American Evangelicalism is driven primarily by the market (Skye even tells a story about meeting a market executive who predicted the end of the Emergent Church movement of the early 2000s because it was a movement made up by marketers who no longer had any use for it). Evangelical fights, music, books, etc are all driven by marketing and money, which are developed through a mix of what we want and what marketers want us to want. Toward the end of the conversation (which goes from roughly minute 13 to minute 53 of the podcast), Kaitlyn makes a really important point about how desire works in us: we think we want things that will make us feel good, but those wants are often pointing to or masking deeper desires in us that would get us closer to the things we actually need. But we spend money and tend to make decisions based on our shallow wants, not our deepest desires.
Add to that the fact that marketers and publishing companies and business executives are in the business of noticing and then creating new wants in us, so that we add layers and layers of wants to keep us from searching after our deepest desires. The stuff that would fulfill us is free, but the consumer markets cannot sustain their appetites by telling us that, so they are constantly creating new wants in us. This is the way consumerism works, outside and inside the church.
Again, the stuff that fills our deepest longings is all freely available to us in Christ: identity, grace, purpose, acceptance, belonging, God's presence and life in us, our life and presence in Christ. We don't need the markets, they need us. But they convince us to keep spending by pretending and confusing us into thinking that we need them and their products. My prayer as a pastor is that we can continue to see, notice, and find freedom from consumerism, which is a reason that we've set up RCB in the ways that we have. One of my driving concepts as a church planter is to work toward an anti-consumerist model.
And, it is not lost on me that I started these reflections by listening to a consumer media outlet talking about a magazine article talking about a book. I'm trapped in the consumerist markets as much as anyone. The church is trapped in Babylon, and one of the key questions for us is whether or not we are learning to love Babylon more and more, or are we learning to follow and love Jesus? Are we finding ourselves freer of Babylon, or more and more entangled? Are we in the world and not of it, with all the complexity of living in that way, or are we becoming more one with the world systems?
During this Lent season, I invite us to seek after ways of life that draw us to our deepest desires, by learning to listen less to our appetites and distractions, and instead allow God to speak to us in hunger, in quiet, in rest, in silence.
Jesus, draw our eyes and ears to our deep longing for You, and help us attune to what You are doing in us and in the world around us. Set us free from the bondage of consumerism and help us to find our firm foundation in You.
Blessings in Christ,
Josh
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Going through Lent, allowing God to tune our hearts to worship.
An invitation into knowing God's faithfulness through pain.
A review of Christianity and Critical Race Theory
Mario's reflections on Lent and privilege.
This is how I remember Lent as a kid: go to mass on Ash Wednesday (I have no memory of any sermon, lol), vow to give up something (that lasted as long as a New Year’s resolution), and eat Long John Silver’s fried fish on Fridays (their hushpuppies and crunchies…mmmm). We didn’t eat meat on Fridays (unless we forgot, but we prayed, so it was ok); it was something everyone in the church did, right? I knew it was leading up to Easter--other than that, I had no real understanding or connection to it. Lent was taught more like an obligation rather than an opportunity. An opportunity to reflect, rejoice, rest, repent (what other “r” words can we think of?) on Christ’s journey to the cross. The next 40 days is an opportunity, an invitation to draw closer to the Giver of Life. For some, this might look sacrificial (giving something up), for others it might be a genesis (starting something new), or it can be a combination of the two. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth, As it is in heaven” Our Lord doesn’t just teach us to pray, he embodies prayer. He inaugurates God’s kingdom on earth through his presence with us; through his faithful obedience, we get to see and experience heaven on earth. This does not come without temptation, and trials, and wandering astray at times—yet our loving God invites. He invites us to remember, to reengage with the One who creates and holds all things; He invites us to lay down our lives and pick up our crosses. We want to invite you to participate with RCB, as we journey with Christ to Calvary, praying for the strength to be obedient… Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth, As it is in heaven.
A book review of Peter Sung's excellent The Post-Church Church.
John 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his Name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.