January 17, 2010: “Moving from Me to We”
Posted on : Jan 14th, 2010 | By office | Category: This Sunday's Service
Welcome to
LifeServe 2010
Whose lives are different because of you?
“The Me Generation”
You would have to have slept through the last 40 years or not dated anyone in a long time not to notice we have a new social phenomenon “out there” called “the ME Generation.” In 2006, Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D., who is an Associate Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University wrote a most interesting book entitled:
The ME Generation:
Why today’s young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled – and more miserable than ever before.
Jean writes:
We live in a time when high self-esteem is encouraged from childhood, when young people have more freedom and independence than ever, but also far more depression, anxiety, cynicism, and loneliness. Today’s young people have been raised to aim for the stars at a time when it is more difficult than ever to get into college, find a good job, and afford a house. Their expectations are very high just as the world is becoming more competitive, so there’s a huge clash between their expectations and reality. More than any other generation in history, the children of Baby Boomers are disappointed by what they find when they arrive at adulthood.
Personally I don’t think “the ME generation” is limited to a specific age group. I think it’s a social value that has worked its way into the fabric of our lives. There are of course, many positive values that have come out of “the me generation.” But there are also many weaknesses…..which leads us to the question: “Why are so many people more miserable than ever before?”
Part of the irony of “the me generation’s” isolation and loneliness is that this is the most connected generation in history. But we really need to make that “we:” we are the most connected generation in history. We have iphones, and now Google-phones, BlackBerrys, and cell phones. We have social networking sites, texting and that old fashioned thing called “the internet.” We are the most socially-networked and connected generation in history. But, we are also one of the most isolated, lonely and depressed generations in history. WHY?
One observation from the scriptures is that we need to move from “me” to “we.”
The Apostle Paul wrestles with that reality some 2000 years ago in his first letter to the Corinthians. The “me generation” of his day was in a constant power struggle over who was more important, and whose gifts were more valuable, “who was more entitled?” Each person of the “me generation” was convinced they were the most important. But Paul raises our consciousness to see that while each of us is individually important and valued, God has created the many “me’s” to become one larger, more inclusive, and useful entity called “we.”
As an example of that, we have the story of Jesus’ miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. Since this is a miracle story, Jesus could just as easily have “changed stones into bread and sticks into fish” but that’s not what the story is about. Nor is it what the miracle is about. The miracle is, a little child offers up what he has (5 loaves, 2 fish) and with that, the entire crowd (community) is fed. Now that’s a miracle! And that is what Jesus means when he teaches about moving from “me” to “we.”
This Sunday, as we continue our series LifeServe 2010 we’ll be looking at the question “How can we live our lives differently so that our lives make a difference in the world in which we live?” One of the most effective ways to do that is by moving from “me” to “we.”
Blessings,
Dan
This Sunday’s Scriptures:
1 Corinthians 12: 12-27 (edited)
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as God chose. 19If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’
26If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
27 You, then, are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.
John 6: 1-13
The story of the feeding of the five thousand
Some time later, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee – that is, Lake Tiberius- and a huge crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by healing people who were sick. Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down there with the disciples. It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.
Looking up, Jesus saw the crowd approaching and said to Philip, “Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?” Jesus knew very well what he was going to do, but asked this to test Philip’s response.
Philip answered, “Not even with two hundred days’ wages could we buy loaves enough to give each of them a mouthful!!”
One of the disciples, Simon Peter’s brother Andrew, said, “There’s a small boy here with five barley loaves and two dried fish. But what good is that for so many people?”
Jesus said to them, “Make the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand families sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting there; he did the same with the fish, giving out as much as they could eat.
When the people had eaten their fill, Jesus said to the disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing gets wasted.” So they picked them up and filled twelve baskets with the scraps left over from the five barley loaves.