A Modern Parable by Ken Roach

A MODERN PARABLE Life is like a supermarket. There is a variety of goods from which to choose. Each shopper is entitled to make is personal choice. The goods are priced and described though we don't read the small print. We fill our baskets or trolley's then pay for our purchases. There is Spanish proverb:- "Take what you want" says God "and pay for it".

This is a useful parable because the super-market is now an established part of modern life. We park our cars easily, baskets, trolley's and bags are provided, there is an abundance of goods and they are attractively displayed. We can pay by money or credit card, though this only delays the payment and may incur an interest charge. All of which is fascinating and instructive as a parable of modern life.

Life too, has a wide variety of attractive goods on offer and we each can make our choices. There are material things we can buy, pleasures that tempt us, cultural interests that enrich the mind and values that can be called spiritual. Sometimes life offers us pleasures we can enjoy now and pay later, but there are many values or which we have to pay first and enjoy later, such as the skill of being able to play an instrument. A rough guide used to be that the Devils goods can be taken now and paid for later, while what God offers have to be paid for first, interesting!

The goods on offer in modern society are bewildering in their variety and complexity. The child can play with hundreds of simple and sophisticated toys. Youth has access to games and play stations most of us could only dream of. Students have vocations officer who will outline subjects that can be studied, skills that can b learned and many different kinds of employment for which he can be trained. No wonder many drop out in the middle of a course, having decided to try something else. When I was a boy in South Wales, you either became a coal miner or a farm labourer.

In sport we have the physically demanding skills of a footballer or the quieter arts of a snooker player. Television offers us dozens of games we can 'play' in our armchair.

Our libraries are full of books we can read, either for pleasure information or world wide travel in imagination. Radio and T. V., music-centre and inter-net offer choices that are exhaustless and being added to every day. Like our food super-markets; life now offers almost too much variety because time is too short to sort them out. Thankfully we are now living longer and so are able to 'consume, more that our parents ever knew existed. While all this is a privilege for we moderns, we also get confused with it all and are more likely to make wrong choices. Wen life was simpler, there seemed to be less stress and more pure happiness; so there is a price we might be paying for our very abundance (or am I just showing my age!?).

PAYING THE PRICE is worth thinking about. Money, cheques or credit card is the currency of the modern shop but in the super market of life there are many more currencies; indeed, here we may even be paying too much for money! How many young parents are paying for money with long hours away from home, then being too tired to enjoy the children or listen to them? What about the socially ambitions that become so stressed, that their relationships suffer and they cannot enjoy the amenities their money has brought them? Here's a challenging thought; we may be paying too much time, energy and worry for the money we are earning.

Unfortunately many of us are so caught up in the demands of living that we don't have the time or inclination to give proper consideration to such questions. This situation is both serious and sad, because it affects our mental health and social well-being. I is as if we are being pushed around the super-market of life and other people are telling us what we ought to buy and how much we must pay. Many feel they just cannot get out the 'rat race', though they sense something is wrong with the way things are. Serious journalists are not raising these concerns in books and articles in magazines and good newspapers.

Not so long ago Sunday was kept for WORSHIP, (which word really means WORTHSHIP). It was a day set apart for quiet reflection on the things that were really worth while and most important. Holidays should be HOLY-DAYS; again for regaining spiritual perspectives and renewing the resources of the spirit; so making for wholeness in life, rather than tired fragmentation. Now think of how many moderns are spending their holidays and realise why some say they need a rest when they return home. Everything has its price and we should be more aware of the currencies we are dealing in, as well as whether we are paying too much for what we are getting. Wordsworth raised this issue two hundred years ago in the sonnet :
"The world is too much with us, late and soon, getting and spending we lay waste our powers".

Since this is a church website we might ask about the role and importance of religion. NO, I'm not thinking of creeds or rituals, which many now think are irrelevant and thereby contributing to the decline in church attendance. I believe real religion is the context in which we try to "see life clearly and see it whole". Religion is really about clearer perspectives and deeper values and our personal relationship with God. It should reflect what we see as real worth, direct our judgements and inspire our motivations. It should help us decide the real bargains of life and avoid bad purchases. Religion is about who we are and why we are here and how we should live our lives wisely and well in every aspect.
"Jesus knowing he had come from God and was going to God took a towel" John 13:3. Yes, real religion even affects how we use our towels and do our chores. Jesus was no kill-joy, he had no liking for self righteous Pharisees and wanted us to discover abundant life, but he was always honest and reminded us there were prices we had to pay. Jesus asked us to consider that live does not consist in the things we may own, Luke 12:15; and said there was something very real and worth everything called; "being rich towards God". If Jesus got on one of our T. V. programmes, He would be the 'weakest link', and would not want to be a millionaire. His religion should help with our choices and payments. In a democratic society most people can make their own decisions and decide what is best for them. This is our privilege and responsibility, both for our benefit and how we contribute to the well being of others. In a real sense parents must allow their children to do their own 'shopping' and not be too judgmental if we don't like what they buy or thing they are paying too much. Shopping can be a learning experience, as well as means of purchasing, and we each have a right to learn in our own way and change accordingly in our own time.

So the old Spanish proverb had some wisdom. In all the markets of life:-
"Take what you want" says God "and pay for it".