Epilogue – January 8, 2012

I had to go upstairs to the third floor before I left the church this afternoon. As I was walking through one of the hallways, I passed by the rooms reserved for AA. Alcoholics Anonymous is one of the most powerful spiritual groups in our church. I thought about how the concepts of AA related to the cultural dependence on entertainment we talked about this morning.

We should take care in too quickly comparing the very real disease of alcoholism with our culture’s obsession with constant entertainment. That said, entertainment has some very alcohol-like effects.

Overindulging on entertainment can produce a temporary “buzz,” a sensation many people find pleasant. Too much entertainment ultimately dulls the senses, serving as a depressant that numbs one’s true feelings and emotions. But perhaps the starkest similarity is found in Step Two.

Step Two of The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is this:  [We] “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” It’s that belief in a restorative power greater than ourselves that is the beginning of recovery from both alcoholism and terminal boredom.

Recovering alcoholics understand that it is not their mission in life to get drunk; it is, in fact, a terrible distraction from their true mission as human beings. Similarly, recovering entertainment addicts must also learn that it is not their mission in life to be entertained. Too often entertainment becomes a terrible distraction from the mission to which God calls each of us.

People who believe their mission in life is to be entertained tend to see everyone and everything else as entertainers, including the church. In an effort to become less boring, some churches have taken up the mantle of entertainment, even at the expense of spiritual and theological depth. I fear such churches are doing little more than cultivating congregations that are simply biding their time until they find a pastor who can pull a larger rabbit out of his/her hat.

To quote that storied philosopher, Bullwinkle J. Moose: “Nothing up my sleeve…presto! I gotta get a new hat.” Join us next week at the Austin Avenue Church, for something we hope you’ll really like.