Saturday, July 19, 2008

I have decided that Jean Francois Lyotard got it wrong. His seminal work 'The Postmodern Explained to Children' has this morning has been superceeded with a far more contemporary text of such transient simulacra...

I am writing this in the kitchen with Kiss pounding out 'God gave rock n roll to ya' on the radio in here, and in the dining room a cacophanous mix of Jungle Book on the video (oh how retro!) and my children living out the dream of globalisation - Matthew: 'Would you like to fly to Tokyo sir?' Ben: 'Yes please.' Matthew (mid flight): 'Quick there is an emergency, we need to land the plane!!!' Whatever happened to the teddy bears' picnic or building with Lego... Now we are dealing with calamity on a 9/11 scale and countries that a couple of generations ago would have been talked of in fear of being bombed by or their citizens coming from Mars. Now, either my children are very cultured and globally aware, or they are speaking prophetically out of our malaise.

Maybe I am being whimsical and longing in a Baudrillardian way for a time that never existed, but... toy cars, building blocks, books...? Maybe it has always been thus...

Jesus didn't worry about mid air disasters over Tokyo skies, because there weren't mid-air collisions (unless of the angelic kind!), but he did encourage us not to worry about today or tomorrow. Instead, to trust that God is there before us and will supply all that we need.

We live is such anxious times. Jesus tells us to give over and give to God, and in return He will give us peace.

Peace is so much more than a cessation of violence but a restoration of life-giving relationship. An opportunity for each of us to find the simple pleasure of an 'Ahhh Bisto!' moment all the time. This is an offer that each one of us, even M. Lyotard on his most cynical a day could not refuse...

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