When I was a young adult, I had the opportunity to meet and have dinner with one of my heroes. My fear of failure meant rather than take up the invite I headed to the library to study for an exam. I had just turned down having dinner with Tony Campolo, and with hindsight I wish I’d met him rather than go to the library.
Campolo was known for his passionate and energetic oratory, but his books impacted me more than his preaching. My brother had a copy of Campolo’s “Who Switched the Price Tags” laying on his bed (we shared a room) and I read it.
What do you value?
In the book, Campolo tells the story of breaking into a convenience store. The purpose of breaking into the shop was not to steal anything but to play a prank.
It was a time before bar codes and items in shops were priced with sticky labels with the price printed on them. Campolo snuck around the shop and swapped the sticky labels around. His point – the point of the story – is that we live in a world where values and what is good and true are all mixed up like the convenience store where he switched the price tags around.
Which Way is Up?
If that was true in 1986 when “Who Switched the Price Tags” was first published, then it is even more true today.
Information seems to be more accessible than even and in 2006 the prestigious dictionary Merriam-Webster included “google” as a verb. We can get more information about anything and everything at the click of a button, but wisdom and good decision making seems to be in short supply.
In 2015 neuroscientist and best-selling author Daniel J. Levitin wrote,
“Our brains are busier than ever before. We’re assaulted with facts, pseudo facts, jibber-jabber, and rumour, all posing as information. Trying to figure out what you need to know and what you can ignore is exhausting.”
I don’t know about you, but I deeply resonate, with Levitin’s quote.
Is there a solution, is there help …? Does Jesus’ offer of rest still stand (Matt 11:28 – 30), does it apply in our age of anxiety and cognitive overload?
Stand at the Crossroads
In Jeremiah 6, God tells his people to:
Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it and find rest for your souls.
Jeremiah is not principally speaking to individuals, but to a people. The “you” God addresses through Jeremiah is not the autonomous individualised self of our hyper-modern society.
Our lack of an English plural for “you” often obscures for us when a biblical text is addressing the community.
This Sunday we will explore an “ancient path” which is of particular significance for how we as a church discern where the good way lies and what it looks like to walk in it.
See you Sunday.
Brodie