Rent, Stream, Experience - New Values and the Church (3 of 3)

You may want to catch up to speed by taking 3 minutes to read part two here. 

It seems silly to me that we have to have science to tell us that experiences bring greater satisfaction than material goods, but thanks science. It is part of the reason why people will go see Santa every year just for a photo. An annual picture with Santa is cute, but 6 decades of Santa pictures is a story.

And this is what makes experiences superior to objects. The story. A story we can tell and share. A story never gets rusty or fades. It is the story that is the result of the experience and while people are seeking experiences, we are all really seeking stories. 

This is where the Christian faith has much to offer with the value of experiences. Christianity at its best is a religion of experiences. Experience God in the birth of a child, experience the transcendent in the corporate singing of a song, experience the Spirit with inspiring preaching, experience the still small voice in prayer. Karl Rahner said, "The Christian of the future will be a mystic, or he will not exist at all." Mysticism is the part of Christianity that values the internal experience of God and it is a part of the faith that is being rediscovered (see St. Mark's in Seattle). 

Christianity is a faith tradition that is not only built on experience of God but also a tradition of story. This is why Christians tell the same stories every year. Much like you would do at your family or friend gatherings, telling stories of the past and using those stories to shape the present. The stories of Jesus shape our present. The stories of God shape our now.

I mentioned in the first post in this series that if Christianity can get our stuff together Christianity can help cultivate these values of rent, stream and experience. Or perhaps we might call them - Stewardship, Justice and Story.

Rent, Stream, Experience - New Values and the Church (1 of 3)

Before you read this, make sure you have read part one. 

While the Christian faith has much to speak to in the value of renting, you may be wondering what does the Christian faith have to say about the value of streaming? Streaming is very new technology and what could a 2,000 year old tradition have to say to this new thing?

by Lucinda Li

At the core, streaming is an expression of justice. When you stream something you still may not own it (see the value of stewardship/renting in previous post), but you have access to it. Universal and fair access is the realm of justice. Christians have cried foul when there has been limited access to a common good. For instance, when John Wesley saw that the grain in his day was being channeled toward producing alcohol and not food, he called for a boycott on alcohol until everyone was fed. The access to food was being restricted to those who had more money because the demand was so high.

The value of streaming carries with it a lot of things, but one of the things that it carries is universal access. This is why you see things like net neutrality fights and smartphone proliferation in the developing world. This is why when a nation (or company) restricts access to internet services there is a outcry. While streaming may invoke in most of us a technology that allows us to binge watch T.V. shows or allows us to hear a song without owning the physical record, streaming also carries with it a component of fair access or as it is someitmes called - justice.

Rent, Stream, Experience - New Values and the Church (1 of 3)

Recently Leslie Bradshaw shared about changing values in American culture. The tweetable line is that younger generations are affecting other generations toward "rent, stream, and experience." (You may want to take just a moment and read this little article to get the background.)

Personally, I resonate with these three values. Aside from the obvious definitions of rent, stream experience, I would submit there are connections to Christianity. And perhaps, if we get our stuff together, Christianity can help cultivate these values because these values overlap with Christian values.

First of all: rent.  Renting means not owning, which is exactly the point of Christians' understanding of stewardship. You and I do not own anything even if we bought it. Everything belongs to God and we all are just borrowing or renting it from God. Christians talk about your very breath (pneuma in Greek or ruha in Hebrew) belongs to God. We are born and the pneuma/ruha (which also means spirit) of God enters into us and animates our bodies. When we die that pneuma/ruha (breath/spirit) returns to the source - God. This idea that God owns all things is true not just for our breath but also for things like money, land, and even life itself. 

While it may be difficult in the "American dream", moving from owning to renting is not a difficult value leap for the Christian.