I have eaten oranges and consumed orange juice all my life, and yesterday I learned I knew almost nothing about oranges and what little I knew was wrong. I began reading John McPhee's book, Oranges, yesterday. McPhee is one of America's greatest nonfiction writers. I wanted to learn from his writing style, so I chose Oranges because I wanted to see how he could sustain the reader's interest through a whole book on just one fruit. The answer? Oranges are pretty interesting
How can something so familiar be so unknown? I never questioned the existence of oranges, where they came from, how they work into human history, or ever what color they are (Orange right? It's right there in the name, right? Turns out thats not really the case)? Curiosity may have killed the cat, but I can guarantee that cat's short life was richer for the exploration. And what kind of society are we that we made up such a morbid saying about the desire to know more? And whose cat was it anyway?
What's true of oranges is true about a great many things, including theology. If you don't ask questions, dig deeper, and risk an untimely, feline death, then the Christian faith and the things of God seem pretty dull after a while, and the dullness is infective. I am surprised about the lack of hunger to learn more about God, the Scripture, and the history of the Christian faith that I see around me today. But it is understandable. Many sermons, Christian classes, and books are little more than self-help guides, moral lists, and dry Cliff Notes versions of Divine truth.
Who wants Cliff Notes when they can have Shakespeare? Actually, that's easy. The uninspired, the lazy, and the mediocre. The people who are content to have what is given to them by others but never question for themselves. Toadstools rather than explorers. People who waste their life watching other people go through the motions on reality shows rather than experience life for themselves.
That sounds a bit harsh, but that is the legacy our ministries leave unless we are willing to bring the fact forward, unless we are willing to dig deeper to have more to offer, unless we welcome and encourage questions.
Did you know that ripe oranges are not necessarily ripe? An orange needs a cold spell in order to turn the color orange, but that has nothing to with its ripeness. In fact, oranges are one of the few fruits that can only ripen on a tree. It doesn't contain the starches that apples and pears have that allow them to ripen after they are picked. So if you avoid green oranges in the store, you are passing up perfectly ripe oranges. In fact, some oranges turn the color orange and then go back to green as they ripen. That's a meaningful fruit fact. It could keep you from starving in an orchard of green oranges.
Did you know the Christian faith got it's start in cities? That the wealthy and educated were among the early converts? That the early church warned people strongly against taking the Genesis creation account as a scientific, literal picture of how God created the earth and man(while affirming God as Creator)? Do you know how the religious festivals that were a backdrop to most of Jesus' public miracles deepened the meaning of those miracles? Did you know that Moses' body was taken up into heaven by an angel (One of four bodily ascensions into heaven? The other three were still alive. Lucky them).
The wonder is in the detail not the generalizations and the quick and easy outlines. Writers such as N. T. Wright and John Walton (The Lost World of Genesis One) are good at bringing these details to bear and there are many more authors that I will recommend later. Unlike that unfortunate feline, curiosity about God brings revelation, knowledge, life, and enough fascination for several lifetimes. Why settle for less?
No comments:
Post a Comment