Lonesome Jim and the Liberation of Time
Last night I watched the movie, Lonesome Jim. The main character, Jim, is narcissistic and hopelessly depressed, believing there is really nothing in life worth living for. Jim's life is characterized by complete boredom, and even when he is involved in activities, like work or coaching a girls basketball team, this lack of meaning and boredom is even more apparent.
Speaking about the relationship people have with time, Henry Nouwen says "It is the experience of time as chronology, a randomly collected series of incidents and accidents over which we have no control and which gives us a sense of fatalism. This fatalism often manifests itself in the guise of boredom. Boredom does not mean that we have nothing to do or that there is not enough going on to entertain us, but that we are gnawed by the feeling that whatever we do or say makes no real difference".
This is what plagues Jim, the sense that life is without meaning. He is contrasted with his mom, who is grotesquely optimistic and always cheerful, as well as a woman he falls for, who is responsible and caring, two things Jim is definitely not. After coming close to giving up, by the end of the movie Jim has no real revelation, he only decides that in the face of life's apparent meaninglessness, it is better not to "give up" because "trying" in life is better than being continously depressed. If there is a message, it is that we can't or shouldn't let life's meaninglessness keep us from living.
The movie presents time as chronology, a series of events that lack a coherent narrative. Such a view of time is not new to contemporary culture, but can be seen from literature written thousands of years ago in the Middle East. The writer of Ecclesiastes gives us a picture of life apart from the liberating narrative of God's involvement in the world: "Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities. All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever... All things are wearisome, more than one can express... What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun"(1:2-9).
Are we doomed to chronology? Is "bucking up" and maintaining our existence the best we can do? Nouwen points out that it is Jesus who liberates "history from its fatalistic chronology". Jesus broke into history and proclaimed "The time has come, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the good news" (Mk 1:15). The story of God breaking into the world in the person of Jesus to bring his kingdom is the story that transforms time. It transforms our understanding of time because for those who attach themselves to Jesus, we see our lives not as a random series of events, but as part of the story of God's redemption. Nouwen writes that the "the events of [our] scattered lives are indeed deeply connected with the great event of God's redemptive work in Jesus".
Of course this sounds great, but what does it look like? What would it mean to see the events in our lives, so often full of struggle and pain, as part of God's redemptive story? For instance, how are the extremely painful events in our life to be seen in this light?
The story of redemption is that God has entered our pain and stuggle and will bring us to joy and wholeness. In the cross, we see God as one who suffers with us. And in the resurrection, we see God as the one who triumphs for us. Death is not the last word. Neither is pain or sorrow. We may be experiencing "the cross", but we do so alongwith the God who would burst forth from the grave three days later. As one preacher famously put it, "It may be Friday, but Sunday's a-coming". The gospel invites you to see your life not as a series of random, unredeemed events, but as part of this story. And as you find yourself with God in this story, you will know that being with this God is better than anything else in the entire world.
Speaking about the relationship people have with time, Henry Nouwen says "It is the experience of time as chronology, a randomly collected series of incidents and accidents over which we have no control and which gives us a sense of fatalism. This fatalism often manifests itself in the guise of boredom. Boredom does not mean that we have nothing to do or that there is not enough going on to entertain us, but that we are gnawed by the feeling that whatever we do or say makes no real difference".
This is what plagues Jim, the sense that life is without meaning. He is contrasted with his mom, who is grotesquely optimistic and always cheerful, as well as a woman he falls for, who is responsible and caring, two things Jim is definitely not. After coming close to giving up, by the end of the movie Jim has no real revelation, he only decides that in the face of life's apparent meaninglessness, it is better not to "give up" because "trying" in life is better than being continously depressed. If there is a message, it is that we can't or shouldn't let life's meaninglessness keep us from living.
The movie presents time as chronology, a series of events that lack a coherent narrative. Such a view of time is not new to contemporary culture, but can be seen from literature written thousands of years ago in the Middle East. The writer of Ecclesiastes gives us a picture of life apart from the liberating narrative of God's involvement in the world: "Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities. All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever... All things are wearisome, more than one can express... What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun"(1:2-9).
Are we doomed to chronology? Is "bucking up" and maintaining our existence the best we can do? Nouwen points out that it is Jesus who liberates "history from its fatalistic chronology". Jesus broke into history and proclaimed "The time has come, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the good news" (Mk 1:15). The story of God breaking into the world in the person of Jesus to bring his kingdom is the story that transforms time. It transforms our understanding of time because for those who attach themselves to Jesus, we see our lives not as a random series of events, but as part of the story of God's redemption. Nouwen writes that the "the events of [our] scattered lives are indeed deeply connected with the great event of God's redemptive work in Jesus".
Of course this sounds great, but what does it look like? What would it mean to see the events in our lives, so often full of struggle and pain, as part of God's redemptive story? For instance, how are the extremely painful events in our life to be seen in this light?
The story of redemption is that God has entered our pain and stuggle and will bring us to joy and wholeness. In the cross, we see God as one who suffers with us. And in the resurrection, we see God as the one who triumphs for us. Death is not the last word. Neither is pain or sorrow. We may be experiencing "the cross", but we do so alongwith the God who would burst forth from the grave three days later. As one preacher famously put it, "It may be Friday, but Sunday's a-coming". The gospel invites you to see your life not as a series of random, unredeemed events, but as part of this story. And as you find yourself with God in this story, you will know that being with this God is better than anything else in the entire world.
posted by Ryan @ 10:52 AM
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