ting an answer by noon or concluding there’s something wrong if there’s no reply by 3 p.m.
The instantaneous becomes a necessity when the assumption stands that every moment has to be spent in getting something done and something accomplished. So if it takes 30 minutes to walk to the salon for a haircut and five minutes to drive, that’s a waste of 25 minutes that could be used to accomplish
Form a loaning library of gardening tools so the beginner doesn’t have to run out and buy everything at once.
something.
Finally—and this may be the most significant of these ingrained cultural values—is the emphasis on the autonomous individual. That’s what it means to be strong in our culture. Individuals make their own lives because that’s what good people do. Strong individuals try hard, work hard, and they win.
Because strong and successful individuals make their own life, they
get to live the way they want. “I Did it My Way” is the anthem of a cul- ture that has forgotten any notion of interconnectedness. So let’s start with the possibility of a new way of thinking, a way that acknowledges we aren’t simply a col- lection of individuals. We are com- munity, not only with other human beings but with the other creatures around us, and even with the inani- mate created world, from the smallest microbes to the largest mammals, and even with the rocks and trees and mountains. The way we live has an impact on everyone and everything else in this community. In Blessed Are the Consumers (Fortress Press, 2013), theologian Sallie McFague presents a way of thinking embedded in a theological model that she calls kenosis. Kenosis is the Greek word that is usually translated with some form of the English word “empty.” It’s most well-known in the New Testament: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as some- thing to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he hum- bled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8). According to McFague’s thinking, in creation God emptied God’s self in love, giving creation and all creatures space to flourish. In his great act of self-giving on the cross, Christ emp- tied himself for the sake of the whole world. As followers of Jesus, we give ourselves to simpler living and sustainable practices for the sake of giving others space and opportunity to flourish. That includes not only other people but other creatures and, indeed, the earth itself.
It also means recognizing our- 22 The Lutheran •
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SHUTTERSTOCK
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