Travel Light: Following Jesus in a Consumer Culture 

1st March 2008

The first Breathe conference was quite a day! St Paul's Hammersmith was a great central venue to have. We began with worship, to remind us who the day was for and whose power can break us out of a purely consumerist life.

Bishop Graham Cray spoke on following Jesus in a consumer culture. He explained the power of consumerism - we can't escape it; the task is to live well within it. Consuming product after product and shopping for our identity has a big effect on us. It gives us a sense that somehow our true needs are going to be met through what we buy. This makes God seem almost irrelevant, as we are told that the market of goods can keep us in paradise.

But though we're more interested in the pursuit of happiness than ever, our consumerlifestyles don't seem to be providing what we're looking for. Our society has been diagnosed with Affluenza (by psychologist Oliver James) - a cause of depression, anxiety and substance abuse.

How can Christians counter consumerism? Only by outclassing it! Instead of a 2-dimensional life, that excludes the poor, we need to demonstrate how to live life in 3 dimensions. Instead of being discipled by consumerism, we need to learn what it means to truly follow Jesus in this culture. In particular, Jesus offers us a contentment that cuts the nerve of consumerism. If we can recognise Jesus as Lord, offering greater satisfaction than any consumer experience, we can be released to live the lives of sacrificial service that we're called to. If we can fix our eyes on Jesus and his coming, we will find ourselves able to live for a bigger picture than just our own happiness, and to truly outshine consumerism. 

Mark Powley introduced Breathe, and gave a Breathe perspective on what it might mean to Travel Light: travelling light to possessions, but also to guilt.  We then had a Q & A session where Bishop Graham was joined by Helen Parry (LICC) and Phil Whittall (Breathe) to answer questions from the floor.

After lunch the Breathing Spaces provided an opportunity to get practical by sharing frustrations and inspiration in one of eight areas.