Enslaved by the clock

We live in an age of distraction and entertainment. We exist in an era when people are increasingly torn in myriad directions, their days measured in a succession of frantic activities that drain away one successive hour after the next. Some people would say that those two are incompatible, but if we're the kind of people who are assaulted all day by a parade of activity, it's easy to understand how an hour of mindless television or a couple chapters of some potboiler novel becomes all we can manage before we trudge off to bed. Every year sees our average work week increase. Every year sees our commutes get longer. And so it goes, day after day after day….Into the blender of daily living comes the Church. And what does the American Church ask for? Even more of our time. Volunteer for this ministry, lead that group, homeschool your kids, date your spouse, have a meaningful devotional life, on and on and on....(please know I'm not saying any of this is bad in and of itself by any means. We just can't effectively do it all.) Yet nothing gives. We're just having more tossed onto the pile of "To-Do's" that we already fail to manage. Is it any wonder that we feel isolated from each other, disconnected from life, and enslaved by the clock?

Technology promised us more time for leisure, but instead strapped us to computers, cell phones, Black berries and other gadgets that constantly remind us of the time and the fact that we don’t have enough of it. We’ve become enslaved by the clock, an overload from which we can’t escape – unless, of course, we actually decide to.

Sadly, the idealistic model held out to most Evangelical Christians is based upon 18th century ideals of home and family. Ministry after ministry wants to take us back to those golden days when America was first founded, when everything was noble, pure, and good.
The problem is that the entire world changed. Every aspect of 18th century life was annihilated by the Industrial Revolution and social Darwinism. The result is that today's Church is demoralizing people by asking us to live like Founding Fathers without addressing the radically altered nature of work and family life that has become our 21st century regimen.

Unless we begin developing a Christian mindset that rethinks how we work, play, and live together, nothing will improve on the time front and we will only grow progressively more frenzied and stressed.

Let's get talking more how we can fight the forces that seek to entrap our time. Let's break out of the box(es) we've allowed ourselves to be put in so we can better serve each other and the lost around us.