A funny thing
happened today. I went to the mall.
Now you may be wondering
why that is funny or strange. My family would likely tell you that just my
being at the mall is unusual. You see, shopping is not on my top ten list of
things to do in my free time. I see it as more of a necessary evil than a recreational
activity.
No the reason being at
the mall today was strange is because for the past five days I have been at an
academic conference for folks like me who are involved in studying theology and
the Bible.
As I headed into Macy’s
today, the juxtaposition of these two events gave me pause.
In the first place, the
mall just seemed much more down to earth. It is full of the trappings of
Christmas and all of the mundane things that try, as one old hymn puts it, to charm
us most. It doesn’t take much thought to walk into the mall, or even to buy
something. A few simple questions will do: Does it fit? Do I like it? Do I need
it? Do I want it anyway? Is the price-point within my budget?
That about does it. My
feet may get tired but my brain does not.
The academic conference,
by contrast, takes quite a bit of thought. It’s hardly mundane although at
times the questions being asked are fairly ridiculous, at least at first
glance. And the answers, well, suffice it to say that several of the theses
being proposed needed to be read several times to get at the core of what they
were asserting.
But lest I leave you
thinking that these two events are entirely unrelated, I should point out some
similarities.
Both the mall and the
conference feed on folks who are trying to be noticed, albeit for different
reasons. People go to the mall to keep up with the latest trends and buy the
latest products, be that shoes, some popular brand-name coat, or some other
item vying for attention. Ultimately, this is about making sure that you – or your
kids – are not wearing WalMart while everyone else is wearing North Face,
unless of course WalMart is the in thing. It’s about pride and identity.
Likewise the conference
is about keeping up with the latest trends in research and scholarship (clearly
not fashion). It’s about vying for the attention of publishers and institutions
in order to make sure that your ideas get noticed and therefore, you get
noticed. It’s about pride and identity.
Don’t get me wrong. I
know that both of these activities are more complex than these brief descriptions
suggest. In fact, in some sense, both activities are about identifying with
some particular community that one values. And the problem with both is that sometimes
in the midst of the mundane or the not so mundane, our identity with our Ultimate
Love gets lost.
One of the best parts of
the conference was the Sunday worship service. It was a mid-course correction
of sorts, reminding the Christians who participated that the danger of pride is
always at our doorstep in the academe, that we are called not to be academic
stars, but to serve.
I’m not sure what the
mall equivalent might be – maybe a flash mob singing the Hallelujah Chorus?? –
but somehow, somewhere, maybe on a Sunday morning, I hope we are all reminded that
our identities do not lie in the brand
names we plaster on, but in how we use our resources to serve those around us,
regardless of what those resources are.
