Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Are We Gluttons?
In the seventeenth letter of C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters there are some fascinating pull quotes
But then I looked at those words and thought about church and how they cut both ways when is comes to how we relate to church and church relates to us. Aren't we gluttons in how we consume church, looking constantly to get it "just right" and crowing like roosters at sunrise when we find what we think is the 'perfect' church?
And churches and church consultants have become obsessed with doing it 'just right.' We have become gluttons for information and directions, instructions and statistics on church growth and other indicators of 'health.'
Have we as individuals become gluttons for church and conversely but relatedly, have churches become gluttons for parishoners? Boy, sometimes it looks like it to me. So what does that say? Well, first it says we 'consume' church instead of participate in it. Secondly, the object of any glutoony is, in some sense, an idol, meaning we hold the church more important than He who the church exists to glorify and to serve.
As with my weight loss, maybe the idea here is to think less about church and more about God? If I as an individual concentrate on Him, then I will serve Him in whatever setting. Similarly, if the church seeks His face, instead of its own 'health' - that 'health' will be a natural result, as my weight loss has been.
Cross-posted at How To Be A Christian And Still Go To Church
Related Tags: church, gluttony, faith, idolatry
The real value of the quet, unobtrusive owrk which Glubose has been doing for years on this old woman can be guaged by the way in which her belly now dominates her whole life. The woman is in what may be called the 'All I want' state of mind. All she wants is a cup of tea properly made, or an egg properly boiled, or a slice of bread properly toasted. But she never finds any servant or any friend who can do these simple things 'properly' - because her 'properly' conceals an insatiable demand for the exact, and almost impossible, palatal pleasures which she imagines she remembers from the past; a past described by her as 'the days when you could get good servants' but known to us as the days when her sense were more easily pleased and she had pleasures of other kinds which made her less dependent on those of the table.The first thought that ran through my mind as I read that was our virtual national obsession with all things dietary, to the point where churches and other organization are offering Christian dietary plans. As I have tried to explain to the 100's of people that have asked me about my weight loss over these last two years - it's about NOT thinking about food as opposed to becoming obsessed with whatever diet is the current fad.
[...]
Now your patient is his mother's sone. While working your hardest, quite rightly, on other fronts, you must not neglect a little quiet infiltration in respect of gluttony. Beig a male, he is not so likely to be caught by the 'All I want' camouflage. Males are best turned into gluttons with the help of their vanity. They ought to be made to think themselves very knowing about food, to pique themselves on having found the only restaurant in the town where the steaks are 'properly' cooked.
But then I looked at those words and thought about church and how they cut both ways when is comes to how we relate to church and church relates to us. Aren't we gluttons in how we consume church, looking constantly to get it "just right" and crowing like roosters at sunrise when we find what we think is the 'perfect' church?
And churches and church consultants have become obsessed with doing it 'just right.' We have become gluttons for information and directions, instructions and statistics on church growth and other indicators of 'health.'
Have we as individuals become gluttons for church and conversely but relatedly, have churches become gluttons for parishoners? Boy, sometimes it looks like it to me. So what does that say? Well, first it says we 'consume' church instead of participate in it. Secondly, the object of any glutoony is, in some sense, an idol, meaning we hold the church more important than He who the church exists to glorify and to serve.
As with my weight loss, maybe the idea here is to think less about church and more about God? If I as an individual concentrate on Him, then I will serve Him in whatever setting. Similarly, if the church seeks His face, instead of its own 'health' - that 'health' will be a natural result, as my weight loss has been.
Cross-posted at How To Be A Christian And Still Go To Church
Related Tags: church, gluttony, faith, idolatry
