I put this quote up a few days ago without much thought from myself…
“Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who’ve ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”
Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) Fight Club
For some reason this quote has been stuck in my head the past few days. There is goood reason for that. Maybe its because i work at that well known coffee joint (i’ve heard of people getting fired for referring to theirs companies in their blogs, so i will refrain…:-).
I work there every morning. From 5:!5 – 11:00 or so. My life is like the movie groundhog’s day. I have the same conversations with the same people and make the same designer latte’s every day. I actually enjoy the conversation. I enjoy the people. They are good people. The more i think about the life that most of them (us) live (i don’t want to label us all like this) the more i realize how somewhat sad of an existance we live, and how real-to-life that quote really is.
What are we living for? I’ve got one guy who for the past year has driven a porsche. i asked him one day how he liked it, he said he hated it. (just this week he traded it in for a new lexus). Now, i have no problem with him hating a porsche. the thing is, i am sure that before he bought that thing, he coveted like crazy. personally i grew up as a kid drooling all over those things. i thoguht to myself, “one day i will get a porsche!” He had it. he hated it. He traded for something “better.”
Here’s the other kicker, i’d bet about 50% of the conversations i have revolve arouind how much these people absolutely hate their day-to-day jobs. i hear over and over again, “Thank God is Friday!” But what does that mean? It means that in two days, after the weekend we are headed back the to same 9-5 that we just were so happy to get over with!
Now, i don’t mean to be such a downer. I start to think, yeah, its about family, about loving your kids. And yes! it is on a very large level! Its about making them financially fit for when you pass on…so they can do the same thing for their kids?!
What are we doing in this life? What are we living for?
I think most of us Christians start to think, i just want to “know God.” That is great. Seriously. God made us to know him. VERY TRUE! But, i wonder (emphesis here!) whether we have developed too much of a self-centered view of “knowing him.” I mean, if we “know God” but don’t take part in what he is trying to do in this world (that is REDEEM IT!) than what good is knowing him?
I think that is why i have been so engrossed with the missional theology stuff coming from guys like Guder, Newbign and Bosch. What they are proposing is that life is not about us. Its about what God wants to do with this world. again. that is redeem it.
Tyler Durden in this quote says, “. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives.” Well, maybe its about time the church gives us that Great things to live for. maybe, just maybe, as local communities of faith, we can engage people, not only in personal salvation, but in communal mission!
i get so excited when i begin to think of how our community is going to begin engaging our culture together and hoping to simply “bless it” because of the person of Jesus. That for, is something to live for. Something that would make pumping gas worth it.
I don’t know how much of this little rant was good, but i had fun typing it!