Redefining The Good Life
Paul Escamilla
Paul Escamilla also believes the recession presents opportunities to learn and reevaluate. And like Fomby, Escamilla, an author, adjunct professor of preaching and associate director of public affairs
at Perkins School of Theology, finds poetry in the fiscal crisis.
“The narrowed economic environment in which we find ourselves globally reminds me of a couple of lines from Emily Dickinson: ‘By a departing
light/We see acuter quite/Than by a wick that stays.’”
“When things aren’t so sunny, in that ‘departing light,’ we start to think with more intention about our true source of fulfillment. What we mean by ‘the good life’ changes into a more classical notion,” he says. “We become
less focused on our comforts and conveniences and begin to think
about relationships, community
and responsibility.”
Escamilla’s latest book, Longing for Enough in a Culture of More (Abingdon Press, 2007), hit the shelves before markets plummeted. As a reflection on building a richer life by simplifying material needs and focusing outward, its themes are especially relevant. He believes the worst of times can bring out the best in people.
“We become
less focused on our comforts and conveniences and begin to think
about relationships, community
and responsibility.”
While people are not flocking to worship services in exceptional numbers, “the church has seen a strong and steady expression of generosity and compassion in giving,” he says. “To the degree that we are compassionate, we find resources. It is more our compassion than our resources that provides the catalyst for responding to others’ needs.”
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