I like to bake. If you know me at all you can't get away from knowing that. I'm passionate about homemade cake - it's so much better than shop bought and I get disappointed frankly if I am promised homemade cake and I get shop bought. Occasionally I will buy cake, but only out of desperation or if it's something like doughnuts, which I really can't make well (I have tried). Perhaps I am a bit of a cake snob.
When I go to a coffee shop or an event or something else, the quality of the cake is key. Sometimes the cake promises much - it's beautifully iced - it sits majestic on the cake stand and it shines with a beauty that invites consumption.
But then you eat it and it tastes a bit like iced not properly set yet concrete. You smile and you eat, pour on the cream, gulp down the tea, perhaps put it in the microwave, but you're left disappointed like when you eat a McDonalds - alright at the time, but the feeling of 'why did I go there?' sits heavily in the stomach for a while.
But there is something worse than that.
Cupcakes.
Some of them balance the icing and sponge beautifully and are a pleasure to eat. The sweet and the soft sit together like a newly married couple who are beginning life together. You get caught up in the joy of the perfect combination, and sit in the moment for a while.
But that's not all cupcakes. Cupcakes have a reputation for having a tower of icing, a sickly, sweet, sugary cone rising up from a cake which seems to be only there as a poor foundation to be left behind when the icing gets too much.
More icing than cake.....
And then there's the celebration cakes that come with a sign that says 'caution do not eat' because behind the icing is a carefully carved block of polystyrene that instead of satisfying would get caught in your teeth.
All icing and no cake.....
What looks most attractive is actually most disappointing because without the depth of good cake we only get the idea of cake and where there is no cake there's no long term satisfaction. Icing is good, but not on its own.
When the prophet Samuel anoints David to be King - youngest child who was looked over by his brothers - God tells him to pass over the older, stronger, taller, more handsome brothers with these words in 1 Samuel 16:7.
"Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart".
As people we are likely to do just that - to look at the outward appearance - the pretty icing, the immaculately decorated cake, the well dressed celebrity preacher, the one who bigs themselves up with stories of their own wonderfulness - and being impressed by what we see, we take a huge bite..... and it's only when our teeth come together and ache with the intensity of the sugar that we realise there was no depth, no cake in what we've chosen to consume.
But what Samuel is told to do is to look deeper - it's not the icing on the outside that counts, not the shininess in all it's shiny glory, but it's the quality and depth of the heart inside that matters - and that's how God calls, that's where God works, that's where love is found, where the cake is light and melts in your mouth, not overfaced by sickly icing, but perfectly formed - and in that heart there is something beautiful to be found.
And when we make cake? It's the big picture that matters - coating it with edible glitter doesn't make it taste good, but slowly but surely following a recipe, tweaking and changing as we examine the texture, deeply rooted in the a quality combination of ingredients, balancing the icing with the depth of the cake, that's what makes the heart of the cake good.
That's what makes good church - it's the big picture that matters - coating it with a sheen of perfection doesn't make it taste good, but slowly but surely building from the inside, tweaking and changing as we examine the terrain, deeply rooted in Christ, balancing the icing with the depth of the cake, that's what makes the heart of the church good.
All icing and no cake is not cake.
When I go to a coffee shop or an event or something else, the quality of the cake is key. Sometimes the cake promises much - it's beautifully iced - it sits majestic on the cake stand and it shines with a beauty that invites consumption.
But then you eat it and it tastes a bit like iced not properly set yet concrete. You smile and you eat, pour on the cream, gulp down the tea, perhaps put it in the microwave, but you're left disappointed like when you eat a McDonalds - alright at the time, but the feeling of 'why did I go there?' sits heavily in the stomach for a while.
But there is something worse than that.
Cupcakes.
Some of them balance the icing and sponge beautifully and are a pleasure to eat. The sweet and the soft sit together like a newly married couple who are beginning life together. You get caught up in the joy of the perfect combination, and sit in the moment for a while.
But that's not all cupcakes. Cupcakes have a reputation for having a tower of icing, a sickly, sweet, sugary cone rising up from a cake which seems to be only there as a poor foundation to be left behind when the icing gets too much. More icing than cake.....
And then there's the celebration cakes that come with a sign that says 'caution do not eat' because behind the icing is a carefully carved block of polystyrene that instead of satisfying would get caught in your teeth.
All icing and no cake.....
What looks most attractive is actually most disappointing because without the depth of good cake we only get the idea of cake and where there is no cake there's no long term satisfaction. Icing is good, but not on its own.
When the prophet Samuel anoints David to be King - youngest child who was looked over by his brothers - God tells him to pass over the older, stronger, taller, more handsome brothers with these words in 1 Samuel 16:7.
"Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart".
As people we are likely to do just that - to look at the outward appearance - the pretty icing, the immaculately decorated cake, the well dressed celebrity preacher, the one who bigs themselves up with stories of their own wonderfulness - and being impressed by what we see, we take a huge bite..... and it's only when our teeth come together and ache with the intensity of the sugar that we realise there was no depth, no cake in what we've chosen to consume.
But what Samuel is told to do is to look deeper - it's not the icing on the outside that counts, not the shininess in all it's shiny glory, but it's the quality and depth of the heart inside that matters - and that's how God calls, that's where God works, that's where love is found, where the cake is light and melts in your mouth, not overfaced by sickly icing, but perfectly formed - and in that heart there is something beautiful to be found.
And when we make cake? It's the big picture that matters - coating it with edible glitter doesn't make it taste good, but slowly but surely following a recipe, tweaking and changing as we examine the texture, deeply rooted in the a quality combination of ingredients, balancing the icing with the depth of the cake, that's what makes the heart of the cake good.
That's what makes good church - it's the big picture that matters - coating it with a sheen of perfection doesn't make it taste good, but slowly but surely building from the inside, tweaking and changing as we examine the terrain, deeply rooted in Christ, balancing the icing with the depth of the cake, that's what makes the heart of the church good.
All icing and no cake is not cake.
No comments:
Post a Comment