Friday, February 8, 2013

Weekend Update

Perhaps you saw the article on happiness in the New York Times  this week that claimed money actually does bring happiness, at least in certain circumstances. It seems that some degree of financial flexibility brings options, and the pursuit of some options -- education, entrepreneurship and health -- actually contributes to personal happiness. 

Years ago, Dan Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard, collaborated with other scholars to do a definitive study on happiness, the decision-making processes and thought rubrics that shape our sense of well-being. Perhaps the most helpful observation was that we are mostly wrong when it comes to decisions regarding what will make us happy: a new car, new kitchen, new clothes, will not make us nearly as happy, nor for as long, as we expect.

Gilbert has a wonderful phrase for this gap between what we predict and what we ultimately experience: "impact bias.” Gilbert and his colleagues think that if we were more keenly aware of our "impact bias," we would invest our resources more purposefully in endeavors that really produce happiness. "We might, for instance, take more time being with friends than more time making money."

 He also suggests the mistaken choices about what will make us happy are best understood as  “miswanting.”

This week's sermon will explore biblical notions of satisfaction, fullness and life. We'll look at how Jesus cleverly presented his understanding of the "life that is really life" in contrast to the "mis-wanting" and "impact bias" of his day (John 2:1-11). Topics in the sermon will range from parties, wine, bacchanalia, pornography (yes, you read that right) and self-giving. 

I invite you to come, learn and be challenged to embrace the life that is really life.