A Pop-Tart is a flat rectangular toaster pastry approximately 3 in (75 mm) by 5.5 in (115 mm), made by the Kellogg Company. Pop-Tarts have a sugary filling sealed inside two layers of rectangular, thin pastry crust; each layer of this crust is about 0.1 in (2 mm) thick. [Wikipedia]Here's the ingredient statement, broken down into the different parts of the Pop-Tart--
Strawberry filling: corn syrup, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, crackermeal, water, modified wheat starch, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, dried strawberries, citric acid, caramel color, red #40, xanthan gum, soy lecithin
pastry: enriched wheat flour, sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, corn syrup, water, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium sulfate), gelatin
topping: sugar, rice flour, corn starch, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil, gum arabic, xanthan gum, natural and artificial flavor, mono- and diglycerides, red #40 lake, blue #1 lake
fortification: niacinamide, reduced iron, vitamin A palmitate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin (vitamin B2), thiamin hydrochloride (vitamin B1), folic acid
"Blue #1 Lake"?! "Pyridoxine hydrochloride"?! Mmmmmmm. Nummy.
Today's churches are like poptarts, don't you think? Think of all that goes "into" the church. A pop-tart is basically four parts: strawberry filling, pastry, topping, and some fortification. Churches might be broken down similarly: the building, the programs, the worship service, and the ministers. Sounds simple and nutritious, but it's exactly the opposite.(But at least it's fortified, right?!)
We Westerners love to get things right by adding complexity. That way we can have the icing just the right thickness, the worship with just the right drive, the filling with exactly the right sweetness, a preacher who "reaches me where I'm at," and a sunday school class to suit every taste.
The problem is, complexity just loves to be worshiped. And we all willingly bend the knee to our favorite flavor. Blueberry, Contemporary, 40 Days of -- , Strawberry Sprinkles, Max Lucado...
Selah.
I have a feeling that God likes tortillas.A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into wedges and then fried (alternately they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of corn, vegetable oil, salt and water.The thing about a tortilla is that you can eat it alone or with something--almost anything--on it. It goes with everything. Unbranded.
[Wikipedia]
Who would want to put salsa on a Pop Tart?
Think of the friendships that you have. The best ones are simple and uncomplicated, like a tortilla--eat them just about any time and with anything.
The more complicated the relationship, the harder it is to maintain and the less flexible it is. Like Pop Tarts--eat them only at breakfast, toasted, with butter.
Pop Tarts. Churches. Complexity. Ah, but I repeat myself.
Tortillas. Fellowship. Simplicity. Ah, but I--you get the idea.
Enjoy a plate of tortillas this week, with your favorite topping. Even better, let's pray that we get ground up together, mixed with some water and salt, and dropped in a fryer. And let's see what God heaps on us before he consumes us.
Because I really don't think he's in the mood for a Pop Tart.
Finally! You put it in an analogy I can understand!
ReplyDeleteBy the way. The tortilla chip, or any food for that matter, is just a means for the condiment. I'm not talking analogy here though. That's just actually what I think when it comes to food........ It probably fits in both cases.
Heh. So this may be the very first thing I've said that actually makes any sense...
ReplyDeleteAt least you have a picture of one awesome pop tart! :-)
ReplyDeleteI know some churches might
serve too much dessert and end up (figuratively) with a bunch of fat, unhealthy believers. I don't
know --- Is that what you are getting at?
All the activities going on in churches do make for no excuse not to fellowship with other believers.
I like the Sunday morning worship service. We have a good church for that but worship is important and fellowshipping with other believers is commanded and it helps fortify us.
In the past I've heard pastor's refer to "church hoppers" like it was some sort of disease. But I believe worship is so important that if someone isn't getting what they need in a church (and they've made sure it wasn't just them) look for another church...but don't stop going.
Maybe I'm getting off the subject here.
Anyway, that pop tart is one piece of edible artwork. But - give me a good hard shell taco supreme any day.
Hmm...Now I'm way off the subject...
I'm hungry.
Well, you're right. There's something to be said for the little bit of fortification they put in those Pop Tarts. But my point is something more like this:
ReplyDeleteYou're human. Being human, you get hungry. Being hungry, you eat. If you eat Pop Tarts continually, week after week, you might actually live a lot of years. But you won't be living very well, and you won't get enough protein, and you'll be addicted to carbohydrates, and your skin will grow pale, and you'll demand more and more different flavors of Pop Tarts, and you'll get fat, and basically eating Pop Tarts (complex and formulated and fortified and branded though they may be) just isn't a good way to live.
Here's the parallel. You are human. Being human, you long for fellowship. And longing for fellowship, you seek out the company of others who share that longing. [Brace yourself, JP] If you only find fellowship in the structured, formulated, carefully planned and "fortified" church services (the way we do it in the West) you will be undernourished, and no one will really get to enjoy the good flavor of YOU either. There's a better and simpler way to fellowship.
Now, I have to admit, we have been getting together with some friends every single Saturday night for about two years. Some nights we go three solid hours talking about the "Life of the Way." We compare notes. Some of us are spicy, some are herbal, some are sweet, some are sour. But it's like the ultimate eating experience. Nothing like the Pop Tarts I am fed on Sunday Morning.
So this post isn't an invitation to go have yourself a nice Pop Tart on Sunday morning. It's an invitation to get simple. Talk to some friends face to face about--whatever. Unscripted, unfortified.
Just like, well, the humble tortilla.
Flour, water, oil, salt.
Bring on the peach salsa.
O.K. but where's your worship experience? I think of that as meat and potatoes. Your Saturday nights sound like broccoli and carrots and they're good too...but I'd miss the meat and potatoes.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing quite like good praise songs, prayer and listening to the Word being preached - illustrations and all - to make it all come alive.
If the way you do it gives you and the others there strength that's great but for a lot of people not going to church to worship just makes them weak. Granted, they probably don't do anything like you do on Saturday nights...and the trouble is they don't know they're weak until they're down right anemic. I've seen it happen.
But I hear you. We shouldn't do things just because its always been done that way. We humans were derailed big time during the dark ages and I guess there is no guarantee it can't happen again. We do tend to stray away from what's important. Pop tarts come in many forms.
It's the anemia that church leaves people with that bothers me. If church-style worship was the meat and potatoes, then the highest goal would be to get as many people in the room as possible.
ReplyDeleteBut the halls of our churches are filled with sickly, weak, pale skinned, uncaring and un-cared-for people. Whatever they're eating, it ain't meat and potatoes. (Pop Tarts, I think.)
I don't think God goes to church buildings much anymore. Instead He really loves the "where two or three gather in my name" thing. Always has.
Remember most of the "churches" that Paul visited and wrote letters to met in homes. A handful of families meeting together to do the things mentioned in Heb. 10, "spur one another on to love and good deeds."
I'm not saying that "home church" is the answer. I'm just observing that when I consume someone and they consume me (doesn't happen on Sunday mornings) that we both feel satisfied and nourished. That's the nutrition that we crave, and, frankly, it can happen at the coffee shop.
No, I was just joking about understanding a food analogy.
ReplyDeleteI get it, Aaron. It doesn't necessarily have to make sense, as long as my analogy has something to do with food...
ReplyDeleteHeh. Glad the two weeks in Denver are over. I don't know about there, but it went by fast here.
Dude, I hate it when you do this to me!
ReplyDeleteVery well crafted I like it. BTW my daughter loves Pop Tarts, and I love Pop Tarts too but for a different reason...they are easy to make. Just three easy steps a there you have it...breakfast!
Dude, it was great! No offense to 40 Days taken...I thought it was funny.
ReplyDeletePop Tarts are made with good intentions you just can't live on Pop Tarts alone.
Here is an interesting dynamic I've stumbled across: People who have grown up with church have a hard time believing that chips and salsa is better than Pop Tarts. Non-church people who enter into a relationship with Christ go for the chips and salsa right away when it is put in front of them.
Now THAT is interesting.
ReplyDeleteWell put sister. You and Tom are such a blessing.
ReplyDeleteI hope I have changed a little bit too. Though I do envy your story sometimes so much because I'm still pulling myself out of the mire of law and it can be pretty hellish sometimes.
Lee, I have missed you! When I read your comments and hear news of you and Jon, I can tell you have changed quite a bit, and I wish we could chat and rediscover each other! But just going from your language in various comments in different posts, I have seen (or rather, read) a different you coming out. When we were living nearby, you were already starting on that journey, and thankfully so was I. It is very difficult to change your thinking on everything you learned and knew previously, isn't it! I struggle with that, but my issue is usually guilt instead of legalism. I feel mired down in the thought that I am not making headway into spiritual maturity. I actually learned an important spiritual truth from a physical therapist (even though I don't think they realized it). As you may know, I am on a first-named basis with several P.T.'s in this area, and 2006 was a terrible year for me. I had to go to therapy so much, and I felt like I was not making headway physically and finally told them so. This person told me that I cannot look at this one snapshot in time and think that is reality. I have to look back at where I've been, where I started from, then compare that to the snapshot. She said, "Plus, I see you only every few days, or even just once a week, and I'm here to tell you, you walk in stronger each time, and I can tell a difference."
ReplyDeleteI thought the experience was quite parallel to my spiritual journey. I may not see how I'm being transformed because I know myself day to day, struggles and triumphs, and it is hard to measure. But someone will come along in my life that "knew me then" and might comment on the changes. My own family testifies to that!! So, you Lee, are definitely doing some changing and I just absolutely love it. Isn't it awesome that we don't serve a God that counts our every offense but rather sees the good in our hearts and longs to draw us out? I want our God to be bigger than we can imagine, more powerful than we can comprehend, and more loving and merciful than we ever hoped for. We're in it together, you and me, and it's an awesome ride, isn't it?
Sending my love to you -- Suzi
I'm going to stay with aaron on this. Tortilla with butter, then peanut butter, then honey. I'm telling you, they go through every course and dessert as well! I wish I knew someone that could teach us how to make them though. We've tried to make our own and just can't figure it out to work out right.
ReplyDeleteSuzi, I just wrote you a long post and for some unexplainable reason...it's gone..I lost it...so here it goes again. This ride with our husbands has been wild, but very good I heartily agree. I would never ask for anything different. I do feel like I've taken the pill referred to in the matrix as blue???is it?? The one that helps you see reality as you've never seen it. And boy it changes your perspective and stretches us in ways I never dreamed would be stretched. But it's been good. And we know God is about good, right? I've felt like I've been mired in lead for a couple of weeks now...you know feet of lead..can't move. But I'm finding that God does some moving. I am so utterly amazed about how the mire we are thrown into or that we jump into ourselves can be so amazingly used by God. I love your therapist story. She had eyes to see that you were getting stronger...even though maybe you didn't feel that way. It was what she saw that helped you. And what you see helps me. You are a pair of eyes and a mouth that sees and speaks to something I might not otherwise see and have the words to speak.
ReplyDeleteI know God is using my husband in a multitude of ways. His meeting God in a new way when he and Tom started that WAH study...has been life changing and has truly changed the way in which our family lives together. But they have been good and excellent things and I stand amazed many times in how God is working through all of this..in all it's up and down phases. As Jon would say...the story is still unfolding. It will be good to see what is still unfolding. God is so very good. You are so loved Suzi.
Thanks for letting us use your blog for some aside chat honey. It's been good.
Lee, tell Jon thank you for allowing the blog to be used for our own personal use, but I guess it is time for us to transfer this conversation to our personal e-mail, then we can talk until the cows come home. I'll send my address through Jon's e-mail.
ReplyDeleteWow. I go away for a few days and what happens?
ReplyDeleteSuzi, thanks for your words. I don't know if I can really absorb that, but I'll try.
And tonight when I have my dinner here in Kuala Lumpur, I will raise my glass of whatever it is (I'm thinking Red Wine) to the lives of all the people God is pursuing.
"A toast to--The Life of all Mankind!"
[By the way, I blame most of my ravings on Paul and Tom, just so you know.]
Yeah, that sounds about right -- Tom and Paul are radicals! Hope your red wine was good and that your trip has been even better. We all need to hook up again soon so we can hear about life at the Stratford house and your far-reaching travels.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I don't have any desire to make tortillas, but I do remember eating Lee's! They were yummy!