Jesus All About Life

The Jesus All About Life TV advertisements begin this week. They are new ones prepared for this campaign. Their catch-phrase is “Jesus has answers”. The text of the main ad is:

Hey Jesus, thanks for the sunshine, but what about the sunburn?
Hey Jesus, how come the more I have, the more I want?
We’ve got more friends, but less friendship.
More convenience. Less patience.
We have bigger hopes, but more uncertainty.
A healthy body still isn’t good enough.
How come the best things are always have to end?
Jesus has answers.

The ads are asking people to wrestle with some real life issues. Remember we’re asked to be prepared to have conversations around these ads.

Perhaps as with me, the catch-phrase “Jesus has the answers” rests a bit uncomfortably with you. Perhaps, you’d prefer to say something like “Jesus makes a difference” or “Jesus understands” or “Jesus is in the conversation about real life issues” or something else. You can find some reflections on the life dilemmas raised at http://www.biblesocietynsw.com.au/_literature_53726/JAAL_Web_Text These reflections are just some of the ways of approaching those dilemmas in Christian ways. Remember the dilemmas are invitations to conversation and you are an important conversation partner.

Here are some sentences from the website indicated above that I thought might help conversations to open up rather than close down. I’ve added some questions of my own for you to think from your own faith perspective:

Hey Jesus, thanks for the sunshine, but what about the sunburn?

“Sunburn wakes us up in order that we can start to recognise that there are problems in this world.” What do we need to wake up to, and how does our faith help us wake up?

 

Hey Jesus, how come the more I have, the more I want?

“It is an odd thing about human nature, but no matter how much we buy it never seems to last.” What might we be looking for in our endless consumerism, and how does our faith help us to move beyond the desire for material things?

We’ve got more friends, but less friendship.

In the story of the Good Samaritan, the neighbour is the one who acts. What does it mean to be a friend, and how does our faith help us to understand and act in friendship?

More convenience. Less patience.

“We can make instant coffee in no time but we often choose to wait for and buy good coffee because we like the outcome. We appreciate good coffee so we don’t mind waiting. Impatience works against some of the important areas of life. Things like relationships, character, parenting and caring for others all take time and all require patience.” How does our faith help us with knowing what the good things are and being patient in seeking/waiting for them?

We have bigger hopes, but more uncertainty.

“Our biggest hopes are heaven on earth—health, wealth and freedom. Our big fears are hell on earth—ending up poor, sick and powerless.” How does our faith help us to live with the uncertainty of life and being human?

A healthy body still isn’t good enough.

“We have better health care than ever before in history and at the same time record levels of anxiety and depression amongst men and women at every level of society. We fear death so we worship youth. We have an unhealthy obsession with looking young.” “External image can help you in job interviews and impress people at a distance but it is who you are as a person that will determine the significant of your life.” How does our faith determine who we are and what difference does that make?

How come the best things are always have to end?

“Our existence is determined by time. Every moment of our lives are marked by the ticking clock that records the progression of time and marks the steps towards the end of whatever human endeavour we are involved in. Most humans living in developed, western and wealthy cultures resent that we can’t control all of our lives and that we can’t cheat the clock…The challenge is to look beyond the present and ask questions about what actually lasts, what goes on into the future, what will make a difference.” What does our faith tell us about what lasts and what matters? How does our faith help us to live for what lasts and what matters?

Jesus is all about life; and life is all about questions. Let’s be in the conversation!