Nazarene Nirvana

Nazarene Nirvana
We live in a consumer society. Although I consider myself less focused on material possession and consumption than the typical greedy American, I can be one of those consumer type people when necessary. General Assembly is one of those times.

Upon arriving at my upscale $150 plus hotel room, my wife and I walked in, looked around, and I wondered to myself … where is the rest of the room. No matter how much I looked, there couldn’t have been more than $75 worth of room there and half the closet seemed to be missing. My annoyance list started to grow with an extra fee for internet and exercise room, ten year old television, tiny little pieces of soap, cheesy little coffee creamers. Certainly I expected more consumables for my buck.

After lunch we decided to look around for a $75 room that would also $75. Next door was a $69 room, free internet, complimentary breakfast with a flat screen television. It was tempting but the pool was the wrong color of green. The next hotel had $109 rooms with new television, fridge, microwave and close to the convention. We took a card and went back to our mini-$150 room.

Making a long story short, we decided to stay in the upscale hotel. The scale was tipped by the beautiful large pool (which was the right shade of blue) and a large foyer, crowded with Nazarenes to meet and greet. Sure enough, we met Steve and Tina from Michigan, Andy from Illinois, I ran into several friends I had not seen for many years. It was Nazarene Nirvana and I liked it. It was fun, relaxing, and we felt like the right decision was made.

The next morning I woke up with two jumbled, related but dissimilar thoughts. The first was the irony of consuming a couple thousand dollars getting together to further the work of compassionate ministry to the “have nots” of our world. The word obscene popped into my head, wondering if that could be a word used by our brothers and sisters from other world areas to describe the affluence. I pushed that word out of my mind. The path way to negativity and cynicism is slippery indeed.

The second was the annoyance of waking up in a pricey hotel where the neighbors wake up call did the job in my room as well. This hotel exists for my benefit, comfort, and convenience. The information in our room instructs to dial “88” if we can do anything for you. The temptation was strong but room expansion and spare closets are not likely what they had in mind.

It struck me that, I really do like to “have it my way.” Guilt is overused and often abused by we preacher types, but a bit of guilt, properly placed can be a very positive thing. “WWJT” came to mind. “What Would Jesus Think" about all this excess, in relation to the crying global need ?

A still small voice intruded on my thoughts saying you need to get back to WWJD Maybe it would be a good thing in my few days in my $150 Motel 6 type room, to DO what Jesus would DO.

Perhaps I could back away from the negative or cynical and pray for the maid that cleans my room, be patient with the waitress that is slow, be an encouragement among this amazing gathering of the family of God. So I find myself praying Lord, give the grace to live for you, love your people, and care for your world. The extra closet? I am thinking there might be more important things.