Grapes

"The oft-quoted Lyotardian maxim that postmondernity is an incredulity toward metanarrartives means that we tilt our heads skepically when someone (especially a religious leader) pronounces, 'There are two ways!' In response, we ask, 'What's she selling? Who's he been duped by? And who are you to tell me that there are only two ways!'

To our current way of being, 'There are two ways, one of life and one of death!' comes as a cold cup of water in the face. It smacks of religious inotolerance. And yet, it must be dealt with. We must face it head-on and with all seriousness." (pg. 49)

For a little bit of time now some of my friends on this very blog have been "encouraging" me to add some of my thoughts about the Didache. So, I was reading the above text and it made me think of an analogy myself and some of my friends worked through a couple of weeks ago. (You know who you are if you are reading this. :))

We started comparing our experience in the American Church to the fake, plastic, fruit bowl that sits on some dining room tables. That bowl of cheap, flismy, plastic fruit that appears to be so vibrant and so real. Eventually, we even narrowed it down, specifically, to a grape.

Imagine being around a table of people all eating grapes, only they aren't eating real grapes, they're eating the fake plastic ones. Now, what if you're only experience with grapes is with the fake plastic grapes? You have never encountered an actual real grape in your life, so your definition of a grape is based souly on your experience with this fake, cheap, plastic piece of fruit.

Then, not only are you eating this phony piece of food, but everybody at the table is trying to convince you that not only is this "grape" delicious, but it is the best piece of cusine that ever exsited. You can't help but sit there and look at these people as if they are certifiably insane. You have tasted this "grape" and not only is disgusting, it inedible! You would never want to eat another grape in your life.

What happens then when you are in a situation with people who are actually eating the real deal? You are going to automatically dismiss the grape as being fake based on your previous experiences, and you are going to be completely insulted by this new group of people who are insisiting that this grape is actually great food.

I feel like this sums up my experience in the church. People have tried to convince me for so long that the "Christianity" that gets propagated in most main stream churches is the real thing. Yet, I find it be as fake and plastic as the grape on the dinner table. There is no nourishment in the fake grape, it doesn't fill you up, or alleviate your hunger pains.

However, the real grape exsits, and I have tasted it, and it is delicious. So let me be the one to "sell" the real grape folks. It IS delicious and nourishing, and don't ever be afraid to go after the real thing, and don't be afraid to turn down the fake. Accept no substitutes! Please do not let the fake grapes disuade you from the real deal.

So, to sum it up, I feel it necessary to say this, "Jesus is real." He is tangibly real, and he wants to walk beside, heal us, and show us how to live our lives in a radical and transformitive way.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:13-14