God of Creation

That God created the world means that all material things reflect God’s glory and power. The incarnation cements this connection. Christ’s eternal and glorified new humanity means that human life is now enmeshed in the life of God. God’s story and the creation’s story come together in Christ, making things more than mere bits of matter, and opening our eyes tot their ultimate transfiguration. Creation, incarnation and the ultimate re-creation of the cosmos reveal a God for whom matter matters, and material things open our eyes to the One who is above and beyond all things.

Jesus Christ, God incarnate; God as matter, stuff, body, flesh and blood, has forever bridged the divide of creation and creature. In Christ’s incarnation, God now fully participates in the life of creation, and his creatures are represented before his throne with the ascended Lord. Christ is the primary and ultimate sacrament. By virtue of Christ’s taking on flesh, God is no longer a distant creator, but now, in Christ, "This is my Father’s world," and "he shines in all that’s fair." Christ, the sacrament of God made flesh, can again make the whole creation a sacramental place.

Leonard J. Vander Zee Christ, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper

The Mirror of Erised

"The mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.”

- Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter on the dangers of the Mirror of Erised

Thank You For This Chicken

Recently at the dinner table our son Luke offered the prayer before dinner and surprised me with his words, “Dear God, thank you for this chicken, the farm it came from, and please look after all of the other animals.” In this prayer Luke reminded us of some things we had forgotten.

Our food comes from somewhere.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but with all of the instant “food” so readily available to us, it becomes easy to forget (or even know) where our food comes from.

In being reminded that our food has an origin, we’ve begun asking: “Where does our food come from?” Asking this question has been a bit like opening Pandora’s Box. “Just exactly what kind of plant grows a Twinkie?”, “Do these cookies really come from tree-dwelling elves?”, and “If this apple is labeled, ‘organic’, then what kind of apple is this?… ‘Industrial’?”

Our questions have led us to make some changes in the food we purchase. Each Tuesday Misty stops by Grassfields Farm on her way home from work to pick up milk, eggs, and whatever meat they have available (we started back in January). After our first experience we instantly appreciated the taste and quality of the food but even more have grown to appreciate being able to build a relationship with those who grow/raise our food. Participating in this local farm has reminded us that we are part of a bigger creation and that we have a responsibility (and privilege) to steward what God has made.

I recognize it is in part due to our “affluence” that we have the opportunity/choice to purchase food from a local farm. Not everyone has the means of transportation to connect them to locally grown food (we live in a part of the country where farms are still common, unlike many of our cities which have become “food deserts”). Further, fresh/clean/whole food is more expensive (a cheeseburger from McD’s is 99 cents, and a head of broccoli costs close to 2 dollars). As a result, we’ve had to make some choices in the food (and amount) we purchase.

Instead of buying 2lbs of beef from the grocery store we purchase only 1 lb. at the same price from the farm. In buying less food we have begun to look at what we eat differently. Don’t get me wrong, we have plenty to eat, but having to purchase less food means that we cannot afford to think of food in terms of “mindless consumption”, instead food, animals, and the farms they come from become a “gift”.

Another gift of purchasing local food has meant that we’ve had more prep-time in preparing meals. At first this may sound more like a chore (we are all busy with the hurriedness of life) however, purchasing ingredients to make our meals has caused us to slow down. Lilly, peeling carrots for dinner, has developed a deeper appreciation for the food we eat and Caleb, chopping lettuce for salads, has caused him to be more curious about eating “leafy greens”. Instead of Mom “heating up dinner” our meals have become a family affair, full of conversation and meaning.

Is this something we do each night? No. We still have evenings where soccer games and gymnastics cause us to eat on the run, but those times are becoming less and less. We may never be able to fully live off of locally grown food however our hope is that as we do our part to steward the food resources in front of us we are able to create better, more intimate connections with our community, our kids, and our Creator.

That is something to be thankful for.

At Work

In John chapter 5 Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath. Jesus should have known better.

You don’t heal on the Sabbath.

Thankfully, the Pharisees were there to remind Jesus of his “faux pas”.

Upon questioning his Sabbath breaking, Jesus said things like: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working”, “the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does”, and “…I seek not to please myself but the one who sent me.”

In Jesus’ reply I am comforted in knowing that the Father is always at his work. No vacation keeps Him lounging, no difficult situation keeps Him guessing, and no “rules” keep him confined. Our Father is always at work.

While I am comforted and assured of a God who is always active on behalf of His creation, I also desire to be able to reply with confidence the same way Jesus did: “I do only what I see the Father doing…”

Like an apprentice in relationship to the artisan, being about the Master’s work isn’t merely vocational; it is a calling. This calling isn’t reserved for clergy or those who work in a church, but each one of us.

"Farming and the Global Economy"

If communities of farmers and consumers wish to promote sustainable, safe, reasonably inexpensive supply of good food, then they must see that the best, safest, and most dependable source of food for a city is not the global economy, with its extreme vulnerabilities and extravagant transportation costs, but its own surrounding countryside. It is, in every way, the best interest of urban consumers to be surrounded by productive land, well farmed and well maintained by thriving farm families in thriving farm communities.

Wendell Berry Another Turn of the Crank

“Wood – I’ve Found You a Seeker”

One of my favorite parts in the book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, is when Harry is busted for flying his broomstick just after his class was instructed not to do so. Never mind that class bully Draco Malfoy took something that didn’t belong to him and flew it into the afternoon sky. And never mind that Harry took to his broomstick in an effort to retrieve the object and return it to its rightful owner. And never mind that Harry was successful. The bottom line is that Harry did what he shouldn’t have been doing, and when his teacher came back to the class and saw Harry in mid-flight he was caught in the act.

Harry was quickly escorted out of class by Professor McGonigal. Just what punishment would come of his rule-breaking?

Surprisingly, instead of a scolding Professor McGonigal introduces Harry to Oliver Wood, Captain of the Quidditch team (a sport in the Wizarding World played on high flying broomsticks). Approaching Oliver with a terrified Harry Potter, McGonigal said, “Wood, I’ve found you a Seeker” (A Seeker happens to be one of the most important positions on a Quidditch team; reserved for the quickest, fastest, and sure-handed flyers).

Harry wasn’t in trouble at all. In fact, quite the opposite…he was being made an integral part of the Quidditch team (something that never happens to first year students). Although Harry got it wrong by breaking a teacher’s instruction, he also got it right and showed his natural skill and raw aptitude for flying.

Further it was Professor McGonigal who “caught him in the act” of doing something wrong but also an action that show-cased his potential. Professor McGonigal’s response was one that gave encouragement to the giftedness that lay just beneath surface.

Everyday people around us, whether in the home, classroom, or in the workplace are playing by the rules; not wanting to get caught doing something they shouldn’t. They’re tip-toeing to live carefully within the lines of the practical and the “supposed to”. Yet in this space of safety little room is give for innovation and creativity, making it virtually impossible for anything remarkable to emerge.

As you go about your day, catch someone in the act of doing something unique, thoughtful, creative, and encourage them to pursue their raw talent. Chances are they had to break a few rules to do so, and we’ll all be glad they did.

Mechanically Separated Spirituality

I put a frozen pizza in the oven the other night and read the ingredients while I waited for the self-rising crust to do its thing. The pepperoni was advertised as being made with “real pork” and “real chicken”. As I read further I discovered that the pepperoni was made with “mechanically separated” chicken.

“Mechanically separated”?

What is our definition of “real”?

While the industrial age has produced cheap and quick “food” what have we lost in the process? Have we lost touch with the “real?”

I can’t help but wonder if we were to have an ingredients label on our churches what it might read.

“Made with REAL disciples”, “Ingredients: strategically formulated spirituality, business-model infused Holy Spirit, and enhanced ‘worship’ through relevant music and teaching.”

We are living in an age where many of us don’t know what our food is made of or where it comes from.

The same could be said of our spirituality.