If you could go back in time and give your younger self advice, what would it be?
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Well, when I look at my younger self, I can think of plenty of silly things that I thought, said, and did. They weren’t dangerously silly, but a little silly. Perhaps I’d tell myself to be a little bit more open to listening to older, wiser people.
I think of the song title “Listen to Your Father” – I don’t know if it’s about listening to your father, but I can think of many wise words that my father spoke. I didn’t entirely dismiss them, but I’d like to have listened more carefully.
In church life, I’d sometimes hear about preachers or movements from other regions, such as the UK or the USA, and I’d want everything in my local church to be modelled on them. And my elders might say they’re fine, but might be a little skeptical about those who have an idealistic or extreme views. It’s a little like the hippies back in the late 1960s, wanting to instantly change everything. They had some valid notions, but a lot of silliness and sinister aspects too. So, many people, even pop stars were happy to voice their doubts. Here are two songs that touched on that – The Other Side of Summer by Elvis Costello, and Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who. In the Who’s song, I used to think that the lines “Meet the new boss – same as the old boss” was about your boss at work. But it was more about putting too much trust in new movements – and we see all that with revolutions too.
The Elvis Costello song has the following line:
Was it a millionare, who said “imagine no possessions” (John Lennon’s Imagine)
A public schoolboy who said “you don’t need no lessons” (Roger Water’s Another Brick in the Wall)
Both John Lennon and Roger Waters had a big influence on me as a teen – they were my heroes, but when I read biographies of pop stars, I soon found that there’s nothing magical about them, or their ideas. And I suppose that both of them had plenty of criticisms of the hippie movement and even of their own idealistic notions. I was only a child in the late 1970s. But I saw the same sort of thing with punk rock in the late 1970s. Silly, but fun. But some people might be so strongly influenced by idealistic notions that they disengage from real life – which doesn’t do them or society much good.
And likewise, church life isn’t magical either. Throughout the Old Testament, you can see that there was nothing perfect about Israel and even about well-loved leaders such as Abraham and King David. And in the New Testament, there was nothing perfect about the church. The constant pleas to love and serve one another were given because people with strong opinions and high expectations can sometimes become very controlling.
But Jesus Himself is perfect. And just as families and friends can be helpful but can also have conflicts, life in church can be encouraging but also painful at times. So, though we should strive for perfection, we shouldn’t be thrown by the fact that life isn’t perfect’ and people aren’t perfect. And we should be cautious with those who offer perfect solutions. Of course, new movements or radical political or religious groups can sometimes come up with good ideas – or good music. But I can like the music without totally aligning myself to them. And likewise, I can enjoy good preachers without agreeing with everything they say or thinking that life is perfect in their church. In fact, I’ve often met people in such churches who were happy to list the shortcoming of their church 😀.
But it’s nice to be patient and loving in any case:
