Boring.

Last night was the closing night for House, MD, my favorite TV show. Without spoiling the ending, House has to confront some deeply held convictions of his in order to stand by his friend who is dealing with cancer. One of those deeply held convictions is that life is not separated into right and wrong, but interesting and boring. Another of my favorite fictional characters holds the same conviction. For those who watch James Bond movies, the character is an action hero who seems to live every story as though the others didn't happen. However, the Ian Fleming character of James Bond is an expression of fear regarding boredom and apathy. James Bond (the novel character) constantly throws himself into missions, not for Queen and country, but out of fear of boredom. When he finally hunts down his arch-nemesis Blofeld, they have a conversation that looks like this:

"I will make a confession to you, Mister Bond. I have come to suffer from a certain lassitude of mind which I am determined to combat. This comes in part from being a unique genius who is alone in the world, without honour–worse, misunderstood. No doubt much of the root cause of this ‘accidie’ is physical–liver, kidneys, heart, the usual weak points of the middle-aged. But there has developed in me a certain mental lameness, a disinterest in humanity and its future, an utter boredom with the affairs of mankind." - Blofeld, "You Only Live Twice"

There seems to be an undercurrent of boredom that runs through the narrative of heroism. Consider the classic revenge story that creates the backdrop for so many heroes. Somebody does something wrong, the hero springs into action to fight against the oppressor, then... the movie ends. The movie ends because the hero's story post-revenge is boring. Their purpose for being is taken away by the act of revenge. In order for the hero's story to continue, a new villain must be introduced or the old villain has to return. For example, after crushing Blofeld's SPECTRE organization, the literary James Bond resigns because the greatest villain has been destroyed. There's nothing left worth fighting.

I turn to Jesus with the question of boredom. Why is it that we battle boredom and require increasingly dramatic distractions from the mundane life? What keeps returning is the quote from Jesus: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10).

Life to the full. This is the gift of Christ. Life to the full seems to stand in the face of my own boredom. If I am bored, and Jesus offers life to the full, what is going on?

Typically, I find that I settle for far less than the gift of Christ. I trade in deep and abiding relationships for casual friendships. I trade in authenticity for a superficial image of what I want you to think I am. I trade in God's mission of reconciliation for a life of increasing convenience and consumption. When I have been most fully alive, it is typically because I have been pushed outside my limits and into a place where my life is focused on service. This is the way Christ showed us to live, and so I hope I can live this way each day.