Dave’s Dibble: Entertainment Bar is Rising

Dave’s Dibble
[dib•ble] n: a tool for poking holes in the ground
A Christ-follower’s attempt to poke a few holes in the souls of readers so that God may plant and grow seeds that lead to spiritual maturity and ecstatic joy!

Entertainment Bar is Rising

Christian psychologist, priest, and spiritual father Henri Nouwen wrote, “When our good plans are interrupted by poor weather, our peace of mind by inner turmoil, our hope for peace by a new war, our desire for a stable government by a constant changing of the guards, and our desire for immortality by real death, we are tempted to give in to a paralyzing boredom or to strike back in destructive bitterness.”

I must admit that I dislike the word “boredom.” I especially disliked it coming from my children when they were teenagers. I’ve observed that what would have excited me – to no end – when I was a teen can be very boring to today’s teenager. For example, I remember being thrilled to get a wrecked 1962 Ford Falcon in my senior year in high school! I fixed it up and it became my pride and joy. Have you seen the nice cars and trucks in our high school parking lots, lately?

Nowadays, parents feel pressure to provide lots of experiences for their kids. There are so many good activities and things from which to choose today! But in exposing our children to so many options, we may be inadvertently creating a kind of immunity in our kids, thereby raising the level of excitement needed to conquer their boredom. Today it simply takes more novelty and excitement to keep kids interested. The entertainment bar keeps going up.

How do you think this is affecting the spiritual lives of our children?  I think about the negative effects of our consumeristic, entertainment-driven culture on our children.  Recently a TV ad featured several young people following their dreams to play sports, dance, or sing on a stage.  In every case, the passions people followed were about entertaining others.  I guess it is hard to pitch an ad to get people to join the Peace Corps or build a Habitat for Humanity home.

And this is why the world needs to hear the voice of God through us, the Church!  But this voice must be heard by each would-be-disciple of Jesus and ACTED if the gospel message is going to be welcomed by others.

What can you do to keep the entertainment bar from rising in your life?

DOWNLOAD Channels 64, August 2013! Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman reactions • Mission u • 5 Columns of Mission Churches • UMVIMs needed through September 2013 • My Life as a Conference Treasurer • Step By Step – Ministry in Haiti • The Twitter Effect @ #pnwac13 • Salmon Creek UMC’s Meal-in-a-Peel • The Inland Northwest P.E.T. Project • Campus Connection: Campus Ministries in the PNW • Musings: Change the UMC, Change the World • Dave’s Dibble: Entertainment Bar is Rising • Adapting to Lead: A Message from our Bishop • Nurturing Elders & Others: Community Conversations explore end-of-life • To subscribe to our print or web editions, e-mail Channels.