Generation X

Many of us probably know the term 'Generation X'. What we may not know is that it was introduced by Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland as a book title in 1991.

Coupland has been adopted as spokesman by his generation, so if we want a reasonable start in relevant evangelism among this group, we will do well to listen to him. Generation X describes a few days in the lives of three of its members, Andy, who acts as narrator, Dag and Claire, who live in Palm Springs, California. These characters, and some of the peripheral ones, advocate and display Generation X views and behaviours. This group is unlikely to be under 35 years old and are probably still being born. However, Generation X is more to do with worldview than age, so it's quite possible to be only slightly a member of this 'generation'. Almost all people aged between 13 and 30 have been influenced by the Generation X worldview to some extent.

This worldview (general way of looking at life) contains a number of components, the first of which is a disapproving observation of consumerism. Reagonomics had an attitude of cutting taxes, spending more and caring little for the budget deficit; the Common Agricultural Policy pays European farmers not to produce food while two-thirds of the world starves. Generation X rebels against this mentality, that everything is available to me for consumption now, at every level from international to personal. Humanity was never meant to 'confuse shopping with creativity and assume that merely renting a video on a Saturday night was enough'.

But if governments prompt and support such a society, they are not to be trusted either, so Xers often suffer from 'voters block' defined as 'the attempt, however futile, to register dissent with the current political system simply by not voting'. (This distrust was echoed in the recent Star Wars film where government was portrayed as an obstruction to justice rather than its agent.) Generation X goes further still, believing that 'the world has gotten too big-way beyond our ability to tell stories about it'. They view all established worldviews (i.e. stories) as hopelessly discredited and hence will take seriously the lyrics of bands such as Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, U2 and REM who espouse similar views. In a world that shamelessly commercialises sex and sees divorce as being of no great consequence (many Xers have personal experience), many of this group assume that the world sees people as just another consumable. Claire observes how some people 'tend to throw out their houseplants rather than maintain them imagine what their kids are like' while Dag wonders if 'sex is really an excuse to look deeply into another human being's eyes'. Small wonder many Xers feel unloved and insecure. 'I am worthless,' insisted a 22 year-old work colleague of mine recently.

Having arrived at all or part of this worldview, Xers generally do one of two things. The first is to return to the me-now culture they despise simply because they cannot find what Andy's brother calls 'an even remotely plausible alternative'. Doubtless, over time, the comforts of this world dull the pain of contradiction entailed in such a regression. The second is the course taken by the three central characters in Coupland's novel: removal from the mainstream, a process often referred to as downsizing. This is done both because of the 'need for autonomy at all costs, usually at the expense of long-term relationships' and because of a desire to think through one's life. Many Generation Xers have spent long periods travelling for just this purpose, to replace the old, discredited ideas with their own individual and transcendent ones - a 'personal truth.' Feelings and whims play a dominant role in the three friends lives: 'There is no shame in impulse,' Andy insists. Eastern mystical religious ideas are thus popular among this group.

So how do we confront and comfort them with the gospel? There are many obstacles but the greatest is the church. Xers prize consistency and despise hypocrisy and so the corrosive decades of liberal theology and immoral living within the church have attracted their strong disapproval. How ironic that much liberalism is propagated under the desire to be relevant! The rejection of all previously established worldviews extends to organised religion and so it is vital both that we stand for Christ not the church, and that we make every effort to relate the gospel to Xers' individual situations. Yes, we may say, you are totally right to reject the all-pervasive consumerism that so much of the world (and affluent Western church) seems to be locked into. Yes, you are right to realise that consumer choice and convenience are not the sum and substance of human existence. But we must also insist, simply consuming less is not the answer.

A thorough change of heart is required, treating the real cause, not just the symptoms. In Jesus' view, renouncing possessions was only ever preparatory to following him. 'Sell everything you have and give to the poor,' he told the rich young ruler, 'Then come, follow me' (Luke 18.22). In a world that has no future, as the Xers fear, possessions are as pointless as national citizenships. We too have no residency here, but unlike Generation X, we are 'looking forward to a city with foundations whose architect and builder is God . . . [we are] aliens and strangers on earth . . . longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called [our] God for he has prepared a city for [us]' (Hebrews 11.10, 13-16). Unlike them, we have no need to wander continually in search of love and acceptance because 'the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father' (John 16.27). In a rare moment of frank admission, Andy tells us of a dream in which, lying on rocks by the sea: 'I will hear wings . . . a great big dopey, happy-looking pelican that will land at my side and then, with smooth leather feet, waddle over to my face, without fear and with an elegant flourish . . . offer me the gift of a small silvery fish. I would sacrifice anything to be given this offering.' Our God is not a pelican giving a random, replaceable fish. He is a man called Jesus 'who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age' (Galatians 1.4). Our God doesn't give what we can neither use nor enjoy. Jesus's gift is a life of knowing him and the true God who made the universe.

Because of this unambiguous revelation of God in Christ, we have a unified view of life and morals based not on the self-validation of man (which is ultimately hopeless) but on our being made in the image of God our creator who becomes our friend in Jesus. In stark contrast, the Xers are left only with 'me-ism' defined as 'a search by an individual, in the absence of training in traditional religious tenets, to formulate a personally tailored religion by himself. Most frequently a mishmash of reincarnation, personal dialogue with a nebulously defined god figure, naturalism and karmic eye-for-eye attitudes'.
When applied to real life, this becomes 'personal taboo' which Coupland claims borders on superstition. Certainty is impossible. It is to this situation that the conclusion of Ecclesiastes speaks with rare clarity and power. Faced with the vagaries of life in the absence of faith in God, we must 'sow your seed in the morning and at evening, let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that or whether both will do equally well' (Ecclesiastes 11.6).

This is the economic lifestyle the Xers reject (frantically hard work to guarantee biggest rewards) but, ironically, the philosophical approach they accept (finding a system of ideas that works for you). The beautiful alternative, the only way to be true to ourselves, is to acknowledge our true origins. 'Remember your Creator . . . before . . . the dust returns to the ground and the spirit returns to God who gave it. . . Fear God and keep his commands for this is the whole [substance] of man' (Ecclesiastes 12.1, 7, 13). God made us to live according to his pattern, and only in doing so will we find the true peace, meaning, love and significance for which Generation X is crying out. And if we refuse this gracious invitation to repentant self-fulfilment? 'Follow your heart and whatever your eyes see [impulse again] but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgement, including every hidden thing whether it is good or evil' (Ecclesiastes 11.9). That's how we know we're worth something - God troubles to judge us.

Simon Wheeler

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