Thousand Acre Church

We had a discussion in Sunday school class this past Sunday that led to a comment from the teacher that went something like this, “You can be pissed-off  at God, you can be happy with God, you can be frustrated with God, etc.  BUT, don’t ever ‘Whatever!’ God.”  Have you ever “Whatever!”ed God?  You know what I mean, right.  You’ve at some point thought, “I’m tired of dealing with this… Whatever, God!”, “I don’t want to think about that… Whatever, God!”,  “I don’t get it… Whatever, God!”  When our teacher said that, my first thought was, “Whatever.”  We “Whatever!” God and people all the time.  But, I’ve been thinking about it… and I think he was on to something.

Usually a “Whatever, God!” moment gets followed-up with surfing the internet, playing a game, watching TV, taking a nap, or any other distracting activity that can be done in isolation without thinking too much.  Right now… I’m having a “Whatever, God!” moment.  My distracting activity of choice is… tah-dah… a new blog post.  And if you are reading it, then you’re enabling me to “Whatever, God!”  You might even be “Whatever, God!”-ing yourself at this very moment.

Sally has been unemployed for over a year.  She’s depressed, so she turns on the TV and sits for a while, so shes more depressed, so she sits down to watch TV for a while, so she’s de-…. get it?  “Whatever, Job!”

Chester is in debt up to his eyeballs.  He’s discontent with his situation, so he buys a new toy, so he’s more discontent with his situation, so he buys a new toy, so he …. enough?  “Whatever, Debt!”

Chauncey is addicted to gambling.  He’s discontent with his situation, so he loses money playing cards online to distract himself, so he gets pissed at himself, so he loses money betting ball games to distract himself, so he … you guessed it!  “Whatever, Addiction!”

We “Whatever!” things so we can forget about them.

Most of the crap that is in my house was purchased when my wife or I was having a “Whatever, God!” kind of day.  In our affluence, we forget the source of meaning, contentment, and vocation that God has provided through his Kingdom and re-Creation.  We settle for schmit from Target that gets forgotten about and crammed into a corner to make room for the schmit we’re gonna buy the next time we get discontented.  We often search for value in the crap in our corners.  Our home is a big box of crap.  Our basement is a big storage room for plastic, noise-making crap that was purchased by relatives (and by us) beacause they thought that our kids needed more crap (when what our kids REALLY need are more OF us and our relatives).  We (that includes me) substitute stuff for people and find ourselves lonely.  We substitute bigger houses and bigger TV’s for God and find ourselves justifying wearing ourselves out with the hard work and long hours it takes to pay more more CRAP!  Then we buy more plastic, noise making crap to make ourselves feel better for not being home to hang out with our kids.  The cycle of crap!  “Whatever, kids, spouse, God!  I’m going to… go play Wii. …pop in a movie. …go shopping… go to the used book store (one of my favorites)… blog… get back to my crap!” 

When I “Whatever!” somebody, it usually is because I’m tired, exhausted, spent, (thesaurus, anyone?).  It’s also a nifty way to avoid the conflict, the depression, the unemployment, the pain of my neighbor or friend, the needs of my children or wife.  “Whatever!” creates space, communicates apathy, severs the communication, enables the distractions which intensify the problems.  “Whatever!” leads to death.  Talking, relationships, giving yourself to others, leads to life.  ”Whatever!” doesn’t change the situation, it just avoids it until later.  When later arrives, we are usually more discontent, sick, or dead than before.  Example:  If you “Whatever!” the neighbors pitbull when its a puppy, then you’re gonna have a harder time dealing with it when it grows up.

So, I admitted to having a “Whatever, God!” sort of day.  I’m in the middle of some heavy discontent regarding my stuff, my opportunities, my lifestyle, my habits, my everything.  There are a lot of things I’d like to purge and leave behind.  There is a lot of room for relationships and community-building that could be created by being downwardly mobile.  I’m disturbed by the ease with which I can ”Whatever.” my neighbors, my children, my friends, and my wife.  Whatever, recycling!  Whatever, consumerism!  Whatever, love!  Whatever, health.  Whatever, naggy customer!  Whatever, snow in the driveway!  Whatever!!!!!!!!  I’m tired of wrestling with this crap and trying to live in the middle of it.  I’m tired of hearing God say, “Quit talking about your crap and DO SOMETHING!” without knowing exactly what it is God would have me do.  “Whatever, God.  Whatever.  Leave me to myself.”  And then he keeps coming into my retreat from him.  “Whatever, God!  I SAID, WHATEVER!  I just want to get back to the meaningless distractions.”  And he keeps coming.  It’s been one of those days.  I wish I could just forget about it for a while.  God help me.  God save me… from “Whatever!”

Pleasant, huh.  Whatever.