Jesus
Mmm…Donuts!
I cannot tell a lie. I love ice cream, cookies, candy bars, cake, and pie. If it were socially acceptable and there were no ill effects to my waistline, I would eat a massive bowl of ice cream after every meal. And during the recent holiday season, I just about did. And I liked it. When family members had gone to the trouble to provide multiple desserts, it would be rude to not try a piece of each bar, pie, and piece of candy.
However, as I’m now trying to run off the effects of my recent dessert-eating binge, a recent TED talk caught my eye. (You can find it here.) The talk focused on the effects of too much sugar in one’s diet. It seems that when you take a bite of candy or cake, the sugar in the dessert sets off a signal in the cerebral cortex part of the brain that gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling. (I know this feeling well.) This feeling comes from the chemical, dopamine. The more sugar that is ingested, the more dopamine is set off and soon the tolerance level of dopamine increases. One tasty, fresh, warm donut becomes two and two cookies turns into three. The brain enjoys this feeling and looks for more. It is the same chemical reaction that takes place in the brain not just when eating sugar, but also in social interaction and drugs and alcohol. The more we do these things, the more our brains enjoys it and the more we crave them. When sugary food choices become a part of our lives, they not only become more frequent, but they become our first choice. The choice between soda and water, between apples and seven-layer bars is no longer a hard one; our brain makes the decision for us. Dopamine takes over and sugar wins.
So the old adage, “you are what you eat,” doesn’t just pertain to our waistlines and shirt size, but also our brain. The choices we make at the table effect our whole entire body.
This has implications for us as people of faith. We make thousands of choices every single day: paper or plastic, regular or decaf, left turn or right. Some of these are simple and ordinary and have no real implications on what kind of people we are. But other choices are a bit heavier: should we be gracious or rude when someone cuts us off in traffic and our children are sitting in the back seat, watching our every move? Should we skimp a bit on a our taxes this year, because no one is really going to know? Should we participate in the office gossip or stand up for someone being made fun of?
These choices, don’t effect our waistline, but they turn us into the kind of person we are. And, if we continually choose the wrong over the right, our tolerance for what is wrong increases. Eventually we become addicted to noticing the log in someone else’s eye over seeing the speck in our own. Like our brain sending dopamine through our body, telling us that one more donut isn’t that bad, choosing a way other than God’s may not seem that bad over time.
So may we be wise and mindful about the choices and decisions we make. May we be more loving and gracious than bitter and spiteful. And may our first choice be to offer kindness and compassion more often than not.
Getting ready for Advent 2
At First Christian Church in Burlington on Sunday, December 8, the passage we’ll wrestle with is Matthew 3:1-12. It’s the second Sunday in the season of Advent, so we are making our way toward Christmas. If you’d like to study the scripture along with me this week, this is what I’m thinking about:
Matthew 3:1-12
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” ’
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
- The first thing that John the Baptist says is, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” People were coming to him from Jerusalem and Judea, all around the region of the Jordan (both urban and rural places). They were coming to confess their sins and be baptized. This is all well and good, but as David Lose and Karoline Lewis point out here, this isn’t the usual Advent and Christmas theme. Repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins is a topic we talk about in Lent as we prepare for Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, not as we celebrate his birth. Advent and Christmas are supposed to be happy times full of joy and hope; even the Advent candle this week is Peace. There isn’t a candle of Repentance. It’s interesting that John kind of rains on our happy Advent parade.
- Notice what John the Baptist is wearing: camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. He’s munching on locusts and wild honey. He seems like a pretty simple guy out in the middle of nowhere preaching the good news. How many times in preparation for Christmas do we lose the simplicity of the season. Trying to find just the right gift; making sure everyone is happy and taken care of, getting plans together for family gatherings are all wonderful parts of the season. But sometimes they get in the way of the simplicity. People are coming to see him and meet him and he’s just wearing the basics.
- When the Pharisees and Sadducees come to John for baptisms in verse 7, he isn’t too accommodating. In fact, he yells at them. Screams at them really. I’m p
icturing Nebraska head football coach Bo Pelini mad. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Yikes! Who would want to follow John if he’s screaming at people who are different from him and may not like him?
- Finally, as Fred Craddock points out Preaching Through the Christian Year: A, John never identifies the person to come by name. We know that the person John is talking about is Jesus, but Craddock notes, “the narrative asks us to exercise restraint and let the story unfold in its own time.” We’ll get to Jesus soon enough. John simply says in verse 11, “he who is coming after me” and “I am not worthy to carry his sandals.” If you’ve heard the story before we know who is to come. But when it comes to the church, how many times to we assume that everyone knows the story. We assume people know about God’s love made known in Jesus Christ; we assume they know the story of his birth. We assume because we know. But that isn’t the case. We still have to prepare the way of the Lord.
Sunday’s coming and I look forward to worshiping with you in person or online; see you in church!
How to Fold a Napkin
Growing up, we would often visit my grandparent’s house in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and on their bookshelves were a whole variety of books. Being a retried pastor’s family, there were many different translations of the Bible, a few hymnals and some worship books. Also, being a sports family, there were books on baseball, golf, and football. There were also a variety of books on history and gardening and cooking. And among these variety of books was this really interesting, old book by Emily Post on etiquette. It was worn and used and though it used to be a navy blue, the sun had faded it from years of sitting on bookshelves near the window.
I flipped through this book one day, being surprised that there was such a book on how to say “please” and “thank you” and “how to fold a napkin.” But to my surprise there was more than just napkins-ethics in this old book; it included sections on weddings and parties, luncheons and social gatherings. It seemed to cover every event.
As I was going through some books recently, I began thinking about that old Emily Post book on etiquette. When I Googled Emily Post, I was surprised to find a whole website devoted to Emily Post and etiquette of every kind: business, home, wedding, and family.
In thinking about Ms. Post and her manners for living, it seems to me that they come from more than just an old, faded book on my grandparent’s bookshelf, but they come from the scriptures themselves. Throughout the whole Bible the writers instruct God’s people to love each other, just as they love God. The Apostle Paul must have gone through ink well after ink well, inviting the people to be kind and gracious to each other. Even Jesus invited his followers to not only love God, but also love their neighbors. Kindnesses, graciousness, love; they’re more then etiquette and being nice, but they are values from the One who gave us life.
At the beginning of this new week may you put these values into practice. Maybe you’ll put pen to paper and write an old fashioned Thank You note or hold the door open for someone even if you are in a rush or maybe you’ll be extra gracious to someone who needs just a bit more grace.
Between the Lines 