Internet scrapbooking

Recently a fellow pastor brought up the fine church lady tradition of quilting...Getting together in community with other church women to make handmade treasures which would then be given to those in need. The pastor remarked that after the current senior citizen generation, this tradition may well die off. One woman suggested that scrapbooking groups would take the place of quilting. My pastor friend said, "But it isn't the same. Scrapbooking is about creating a shrine to yourself. It's fundamentally self-centered."

I don't know if I have ever thought of scrapbooking that way before...I can't say I completely agree with her. After all, wonderful family memories can be preserved through scrapbooking. It can be a way for us to reflect God's image in us by being creative and making something beautiful. It even can be a gift for someone else as was the case this past fall: it was the senior pastor's 10-year anniversary in our congregation and the church secretary created a GORGEOUS book of memories for him, using her gifts of scrapbooking and rubber stamping.

But while I don't quite see scrapbooking in such black and white terms as my pastor friend did, I do see her point. Our culture is a culture to self. You have only to see the many vapid blogs, MySpace entries, etc. to see our worship of ourselves. Then there are the folks who change their Instant Messaging screen names multiple time a day (I used to do this constantly, hoping someone would notice me, pay attention to me) (not that everyone who does this is selfish, but many are). My emotions, my experience, the world revolving around me. We are internet scrapbookers, creating monuments to ourselves. We are bored silly and we think more emphasis on ourselves will cure our boredom and fill our void inside.

And I have to ask myself...am I the same way? The answer is, "of course!" I do, after all, belong to two online forums and I have two blogs. Sometimes I use these communication avenues to say something meaningful (I hope I do that here) or to minister to others. Or to be creative. But sometimes, I am focused on enshrining self. And enshrining self will never provide the fulfillment I am hoping for.

What will provide that fulfillment? Well, Jesus gave us two commands that I think were good ones: Love God and love your neighbor. Through reconciling us to God in His death and resurrection, Jesus has taken care of the first one for us. The second one is our job. Fulfillment in life does not come from self-love primarily (although a healthy self-esteem and knowing oneself is certainly important). Fulfillment comes from loving your neighbor. It comes from laying down some of your own desires for the other. Giving things up, though, only means that you gain. The servant of all shall be first. Dying means living. Losing means gaining.

I'm not talking about doormat Christianity. But I am talking about realizing that there's a world out there that needs self-sacrificial love more than it needs food and water.

Maybe it really is that simple after all: Love thy neighbor.