Potato Chip words are not needed.
Is your church handing out potato chips? Are you more of a potato chip person or a meat person?
Paul Nixon says we’re handing out too many potato chip words! There’s a line between junk food and good food and the line is called “nutritional value.” Paul Nixon in his new book, Finding Jesus on the Metro, and other suprises doing church in a new day, cautions us against becoming too “junk food oriented” when it comes to doing church.
But I believe his challenge extends to every day disciples out in the world holding every day conversations. Let me explain what Paul Nixon is unpacking and then explain why it hit me so hard today.
“It is very easy to transform the faith of our community into spiritual potato chips–cheap pragmatic life lessons that taste good and “hit the spot,” salted with little tidbits from Eastern practice and American pop psychology. But our potato chips may betray both the sheep we are called to feed adn the Christ who calls us to feed them. Some things taste good but have littel nutritional value. In seeking to avoid the pothole of irrelevance, we shold be careful not to oversteer in the other direction by reducing faith simply to whatever the consumer desires.”
Seems simple enough – and anybody serious about Jesus already knows that, right? I know it’s been the “talk around everywhere” in the U.S. as contemporary worship has become the “norm.” I had a professor in seminary who used to talk about evaluating the preacher by the books he or she had on their shelves. If he saw too many psychology books or pop books and not an abundance of serious thinking theology books, he said he knew that church was in trouble! He cautioned his students to stay away from “psychologizing” in the pulpit. He would say that much of preaching is psychologizing, i.e. let me give you group therapy with a few Bible verses thrown in rather than let me give you Jesus and let him bring healing.
Paul Nixon is cautioning against these sorts of platitudes … but even more . How easy is it to sit down over lunch wiht a workmate or dockmate and talk about the weather, the kids, the upcoming schedule, and never ask our friend to pray about it with us? We are acting as if the story starts and ends with us – our kids, our activities, our thoughts. What if Jesus really is standing right there all along?
What if when someone says, “You’re a really good person,” we don’t say “Thank you, but I’m just trying to learn from Jesus how to do life right”? Because they don’t know any better. Honestly, they admire “good people.” But they think you get to be a “good person” by the sporadic great things you do … rather than being someone who asks Jesus for direction in life.
Are our conversations with others filled with potato chips rather than nutritionally valuable foods (spotlight on Jesus)?
It struck me today because … I am way over my head on a dock where there are believers but not deep followers of Jesus. Most conversations around the docks are purely about self and pleasure. Some edge towards the “spiritual” side – like “I raised my kids to have an open mind about religion.”
My question to myself and for your comment is how to lead from the edge of worldly dialogue to the feet of Jesus without chasing people away?
I figured out this morning that my task over the next 3 months is to find the paths that help that occur. That’s why Jesus has me here. To lead people to Him. I’ve started. But I feel like I have a lot of exploring to do. I believe it’s not the same for every person – i.e. there is no cookie cutter mold. There are basic principles: genunine . . . love, mercy, grace, respect, encouragement.
Lord, I do not know how to lead these people from one worldview to Your worldview. I do not know how to introduce them to You or Your presence. But I have a gut feeling that maybe I’m not supposed to. Maybe I’m supposed to just ask You as we go. Maybe I’m supposed to do a lot of relyng upon you, and remembering who You are and who I am . . . so that I can be a better servant and friend. I feel for the people here God. They tug upon my heart and I can see why You love them so very much. Help me, help them, see and honor You. In Your precious name I pray. Amen.
