Rare or Well-Done?

Rare or Well-Done?

                That is one of my favorite questions!  It means that a rib-eye will soon be kicking and mooing in my plate, next to a baked potato smothered in butter and sour cream.  But, my beloved, Melanie, wants hers medium-burned.  “vive la difference” is the French expression?!

                On a recent vacation with another couple, Mark and Wanda, some old friends, we had to pick a dinner restaurant.  The wives were in agreement that we should not eat at franchises available at home!  So, instead of Hardees, we went to “the Rattlesnake Saloon” – a backwoods eatery in a cavern under a rock ledge.  Later we went to the “City Hardware” restaurant in the downtown, historic area of town, and had that medium-rare.  Two great choices.  (but, I still like Hardees burgers!)

                The conversation turned to a church-choice for Sunday morning.  Wanda insisted on trying something different than home!  I quipped, how about a snake-handling group?!  Not!  We settled on a high-church, formal but friendly, downtown group with a visiting minister who was a chaplain in the Royal Navy!  (we did not know that he would be there; but, it was a pleasant surprise)  Melanie and I have visited a variety of churches while on vacation and have seen a variety on a wide continuum of groups!  At one church, in the mountains of Alabama, I was waiting on the snakes to be brought out!  But, it is fun and enlightening to meet believers who are not the same as the crowd I hang with.

                One can eat chicken so many different ways:  fried chicken, grilled chicken, baked chicken, (hungry?!) chicken soup, chicken salad, chicken teriyaki, chicken gumbo, … BUT, they all have chicken.  It is the main ingredient.  Without chicken, all you have is flour, spice, rice …  celery soup?! 

                Jesus is the “bread of life” and the “Passover lamb” (which was eaten as part of the holiday) and he mentions his body and blood as our remembrance-meal!  So, how does one best devour Jesus?  Consume Christ?  There are many different ways believers “do Jesus”.  There are high, formal churches.  There are spontaneous, Spirit-filled holiness groups.  There are liturgical, priest-led groups.  There are house-churches with no network or organization.  But, the essence of each is Jesus, ideally?!

                Also, there are different lifestyles that believers lead as the “do Jesus”.  Some believers have banded together in communes.  Other believers barely know those they see on Sunday morning, and have no real relationships outside of that hour.  Some people place a great deal of emphasis on ritual and disciplines in their devotional lives.  Some have “quiet times” where they try to draw nearer to Jesus.  Some are lone-wolf believers, reading and thinking.  Others volunteer at kitchens and homes.  There are many different ways different believers “do Jesus” in their lives.  I have watched shift-workers scanning their phones for devotional posts from pages they have liked, and then “share” them for others to digest.  I do wonder how truck-drivers nourish their souls?!

                Old hymns.  Christian rap.  Southern Gospel music.  African spirituals.  Contemporary Christian.  The list goes on and on of the variety of music God uses to conduit His Spirit into the hearts of believers.  King James.  The Message.  NIV.  RSV.  There are lots of English translations that tell the story of Jesus.  (and, I am just thinking in English; imagine other cultures?!)  Personally, I like to vary sermon styles from week to week – keeps them guessing!  Textual, topical, dramatic, academic, comedic … but Jesus should shine through in any and all messages.

                What distinguishes Jesus from junk?  Christian from carnal?  Spiritual from stuff?  A lot of activity can fill the life of a believer and the program of a church.  A while back, a pastor determined that his flock was getting lost in the fluff and missing the real.  A song grew out of his demand for that church to get back to the fundamentals.  [Matt Redman, The Heart of Worship]

                The results that give evidence that Jesus is moving in our hearts and groups, imho, are the list in Gal.5 – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Jesus mentioned two great commandments.  Paul pushed the “nobler gift”.  The evidence to the world of “doing Jesus” is love – not so many of the things we push to the foreground, center-stage.  And, “you cannot make chicken soup out of chicken feathers”.  Without Jesus, it really matters little whether we serve salad, soup, grilled or fried, whatever. 

                I have watched friends and family, and myself, shop around, look around, stand around – trying to “do Jesus” in a meaningful, refreshing, personal manner.  Some want stability.  Some want spontaneity.  Some want spirituality.  Some want service.  Some want …  But, imho, Jesus is the key ingredient, however prepared and presented.