Is religion too focused on solving problems?

In many of the discussions of the nature of the church that I find myself in, there is a stream that views church like a non-profit that has a specific problem to solve. This is noble and a worthy understanding of the nature of the church. The Universal Church may have as much resources and people as any other global organization and we can use these resources to solve some very real problems. 

However, when we look at the world and see only problems then respond to these problems by finding solutions we overlook something about the world:

Not everything is a problem to be solved. Many things are paradoxes to be managed. 

Christianity is a religion built on paradox - last will be first, first will be last; faith as a mustard seed can move mountains, die in order to live, leaders serve, obedience leads to freedom, etc.

Paradox is the mother tongue of the faith, problem solving is our second language.

Why do we discount the voice of the dead?

There is this great little story on the TED Radio Hour where researcher Matt Killingsworth shares about a discovery in the area of happyness. Killingsworth created a way for people to answer a few questions, track happiness and get reports. Fittingly it is called Trackyourhappiness.org. 

One of the discoveries that Killingsworth made with all this data is that people are more likely to be unhappy when our minds are wandering or drifting away from what we are doing. Or put another way, if we want to be happy we need to practice being present in the moment. 

Killingsworth goes on to share in the podcast that people have debated what makes us happy for generations and his research give quantifiable data to the "true" answers. 

While this research is fascinating, it strikes me as another example where we value the voice of those who are living over the voice of those who have died. 

Killingsworth research depends on thousands of people in real time giving feedback to their happiness level, then his team crunches the data to discover trends. Brilliant, but if you listen to billions of people of the past, you can plainly see what Killingsworth "discovered". 

One of the significant drawbacks to our current addiction to the "new" and the "now" is that we discount the voice of the those who are "old" and "then". For all the great advances of the newest toys and ideas, should we be also concerned that we are putting a disproportionate amount of weight in the voices that happen to be alive right now? 

Reading Be the Change saves lives - really.

Back in 2013 I shared about CentUp, and how it was a way to practice generosity with, literally, cents. 

And today, on my 32nd birthday, I am pleased to announce that Be the Change has been approved as a publisher for CentUp!

Look for this button at the bottom of posts across the interwebs!

This means that if you see a post that you like, you can push the "centup" button at the bottom of the post and share some of your pennies. (In order to do this you will have to set up an account with centup but that takes 2.5 minutes. PLUS if you see the centup button anywhere else on the web, like on the Second City Comedy Network, you can donate to that content as well!)

This little button allows people who make the content that you read, watch, and enjoy to keep making the content without having to put ads up all over the place. Plus you can use your "cents" to vote up content as well. There is nothing like telling a content creators, "hey make more of stuff like this!" when you throw a quarter their way. 

So, how does all this save lives? 

When you donate to Be the Change, 1/2 of all donations go directly to Love 146. 

The Mission and VIsion of Love 146 is: "The abolition of child trafficking and exploitation. Nothing less."

And so, I deeply encourage you to create a Centup account, share the love with content producers around the internet, practice generosity, and help save lives.