It's always a sobering bucket of cold water to see what you're actually being sold at the end of a toy commercial. I'm not sure if that's a legal obligation, but it's a sharp contrast between the sell and the product. Through explosions and sound effects and a camera change every second we are shown some exciting new toy on offer. Kids the world over are leaning forward in anticipation as they come to terms with the fact that they could soon own all the things that are flashing in front of them on the screen. Everything seems to move on its own; dolls or cars or whatever it is – it seems to promise an injection of energy into our otherwise mundane lives, but once you have it, once it's home, it is still and lifeless plastic.
Movie trailers are the same. They seem to have become less and less connected to the actual movies they're advertising. It's the birth of a new media genre – it isn't a preview of the film, it isn't a scene from the final production or an outlining of information about it; it has become a disconnected short-film. More often than not I've walked out of a cinema with disappointment that the two hour version wasn't as witty or exciting or as fast paced as the trailer made it seem. Worse than disappointment is when the final product is not at all what I was lead to believe it would be.
This unbalanced anticipation leaks into all sorts of areas of life. I can't count the number of times someone has told me that they have just had/found the 'best coffee ever'. As if somehow a group of people who previously had displayed no aptitude for varying tastes in any sphere of cuisine have, in this instance, developed a palate that gives them an authoritative stance on the definitive 'best' skim latte, or whatever personalized drink they – this is an article (read: rant) for another time.
But there seems to be something like this when you deal with young people too. Often within a youth group context we hype things up when they are nothing like what we are describing. It's as though to compensate for a game that is not going to be altogether exciting or enjoyable we add 'hype' to fix it.
Truth and clarity
I wonder if all of this has crept into our Christian vocabulary too. Is it possible that we have a vernacular that functions like a movie trailer in relation to the film of our lives.
In Jesus there is truth and clarity, there is hope and assurance, security, peace and joy, there is love and forgiveness and unity and identity. All of those things are absolutely true and exclusively in Him.
But on some level we talk louder than we feel, and the grit and confusion of life is left out as we escalate expectations. Not that we should stop talking about the work of God in our lives as any less than it is – but perhaps we need to reserve our 'hype' for the things which will actually deliver.
One day all of this will make sense. Soon the shades will be distinguishable and from the settling noisy dust amongst the rubble of our language, a very clear and a very distinct reality will be seen for what it is.
It will exceed all hype.
Sam Manchester is a University of Sydney graduate interested in Sociology and Ethnography. He spent a couple of years living and studying in London, but now is home on the North Shore enjoying Sydney's arts and social scene and studying theology.
Sam's archive of articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/sam-manchester.html