children's show theology:: entry 03

ok- this week we’re on to a show on Disney channel called mickey mouse clubhouse. this is a computer generated show about mickey and his friends- jane loves it. she loves helping mickey solve his problems and she loves the characters and the music.





this show is a lot of fun, and it says a lot about our ideas of the perfect world- and maybe even heaven:


first of all, mickey’s world is a cross between Disneyland and a golf course. he lives in this land where the perfectly manicured and weedless green grass goes on for miles. where there buildings they are all colorful and very spread out. there are very few people in mickey’s world- and everything in his world pays tribute to him somehow. even his house is shaped like him! there is a mickey park and hidden mickey-heads in the details of everything. mickey’s house hides underground until he says the magic words, “MEESKA-MOOSKA-MICKEY-MOUSE!” and then it pops out of the ground fully equipped with a hot-air balloon, space-traveling-rocket, airplane and telescope. it also has a fence, which is funny to me, because he has no neighbors.inside of his house there are all sorts of handy-helpers to help him out. these are hands are on machines that predict his wants and help him do everything, from clean up to make lunch.


i often watch this show with jane thinking that i would like to live in this world- where everything is clean and made for me. a world where there are no crowds or roads or waiting, and everything exists to help me. but it gets better:


mickey doesn’t need anything because he has everything- right inside of his house: he has an airplane, a rocket hip, a car, a telescope. in every episode, mickey and his friends solve a problem. and again he is helped by a magical machine- this one is called toodles. whenever mickey faces a problem he calls out, “OH TOODLES!” and this magical, mouse-head-shaped machine appears out of nowhere and gives him a mouseketool. my favorite is when mickey needs money, because then, toodles gives him a magical piggy bank with just the right amount of money inside. (i think that some people are disappointed when they realize that prayer rarely, if ever, works like this).


i often watch this show with jane thinking that i would like to live in this world- where i have everything that i need- even money, and all i need to do is shout into the air and everything that i need magically appears. but it gets better:


mickey has almost no conflicts in his world. there is technically a bad guy named pete who often tries to thwart mickey’s plans, but all he really wants is attention from mickey. mickey does get into conflicts from time to time, but in the end, all he has to do is say, “sorry pal,” and everything is magically better. at the end of every episode, mickey does a mousekedance in perfect unity with his friends and they all do ska-dances to a song called, "hot dog!" by "they might be giants."


i often watch this show with jane thinking that i would like to live in this world- where everyone wants my attention and no one is hurt by my thoughtlessness. and even though we would love to live in mickey’s world, we don’t. unlike mickey, the world does not revolve around us. unlike mickey, we don't always get our own way. unlike mickey, we deal with crowds and people and we have to share. our world is not as spacious as mickey’s, and its not as manicured. in our world we have real conflict and we have real needs. and our problems often have complex and long term solutions.


i think that we are frustrated that our world is not mickey’s. maybe in our hearts we think that the world should revolve around us- and that people should forgive us instantly and we really should have everything that we ever needed or wanted. after all celebrities live like this, why shouldn’t we? i think that those of us who follow God are especially frustrated that our world is not like mickey’s. we think that since we worship Him that He owes us. He owes us the magic house and the spacious land and the magical piggy bank and the conflict-free life. is that so much to ask for? maybe we secretly think that heaven will be like mickey’s world: a world with no work- a world centered around us- with a magical house that caters to our every need. but does the bible say this anywhere?


God never promised that our lives world be like mickey’s. not this life- not the next one. instead, living in a world cetered around ourselves, God says, “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
your attitude should be the same as that of christ jesus:
who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant…”


life is not about me-
it never was-
and it should never be.
in the real world, people like mickey are miserable.
instead of endlessly looking for ways to make our lives perfect, we would be much happier helping others make their lives better. that’s when life gets magical.
(and yeah, both jane and I are probably watching way too much disney channel.)
“OH TOODLES!”