Lost in the Supermarket
"I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for that special offer
A guaranteed personality"
I don’t know what hole in my brain that Clash song fell out of last night, but its still rattling around up there somewhere. Catchy tune. Lots of memories. If you’ve never heard it, the Clash’s, London Calling album was something else, especially, in the very beginning of the 80’s. I read one review of the album that said, if you don’t like this album, you probably don’t like rock and roll.
But rock and roll isn’t the point today. The point is that I got lost for a few weeks. I’m still not back, just sticking this message in a bottle (another 80’s reference?) to let anyone who might be interested know that I am still out here.
The funny thing is I got lost in the simplest thing: everyday life. In reality, nothing major really happened. Nothing catastrophic, not even anything that out of the ordinary, but all the sudden I woke up and felt like I had been in a dream wandering around aisle 7b looking for lentil soup and seeing nothing but coffee, coffee filters and tea. I was in the wrong place and didn’t even know how I got here. I guess that is how Lost in the Supermarket shook loose from an old brain cell and floated into my consciousness.
The most surprising thing, though is the lesson it taught me – or better yet is teaching me. One that has been bearing down for a while.
Somehow, somewhere I thought that taking on a new life in Christ meant that I wouldn’t get lost again. That somehow this new life in Jesus meant that whatever went on around me, people would look at me and see a Christian living like he should. I didn’t think I was to that point, yet, but I was beginning to think I could see it out on the horizon. Maybe going to a Methodist church with the talk of Christian perfection distorted something in my psyche (just kidding, and sorry Dennis, if you are reading).
But here I was lost in the supermarket and that guaranteed personality that I thought was the special offer for signing up with Jesus was no where to be found. And it only seemed fair to me that if I was going to carry my cross everyday (okay try to carry my corss every day), I should get a little help with putting down my baggage.
But as it turned out the baggage was just as heavy sometimes and that guaranteed personality, well, that was just something a misinformed salesman had mentioned without permission from the boss. And here I was in the same old stuff. The worst part was I was scheduled to get up in front of a church and talk about some topic from the bible and with all my baggage, I couldn’t even get my heart clear enough to decide what to talk about.
I desperately wanted to bail. Not that I mind speaking in front of a crowd (kind of like it actually… okay, I am a complete ham), but I had no business being there. How could someone so lost in the supermarket, so distracted by his everyday life have anything worth saying to “real” Christians? Then came the still small voice,
And then it started becoming clear. There is no guaranteed personality. There is no promise of an easy life. In the words of Erwin Raphael McMannus (The Barbarian Way) Jesus’ purpose was not to save us from pain and suffering, but from a life without meaning (paraphrased). The only promise Jesus made was grace. Not faultlessness, but forgiveness. And grace only pervades your life when you need it. And to be honest, without grace Christianity is pretty close to being just a social club. It gets so tempting as we do our bible study, do good works and get so busy in church stuff, that we begin to think that somehow we are a little bit above the ones that don’t do as much and far above the ones that don’t even believe. But in reality, unless we recognize our need for grace, learn to thankfully accept grace, freely give grace and humbly live in grace, pretty much all the rest is for naught.
Because as Jesus pointed out about His mission on earth,
And that is the gospel of grace. A gospel that becomes a message of extreme comfort for someone still lost in the supermarket.
Well, I guess I ought to pick up some toothpaste while I am here. Wonder what aisle that is in.
See you next week.
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for that special offer
A guaranteed personality"
I don’t know what hole in my brain that Clash song fell out of last night, but its still rattling around up there somewhere. Catchy tune. Lots of memories. If you’ve never heard it, the Clash’s, London Calling album was something else, especially, in the very beginning of the 80’s. I read one review of the album that said, if you don’t like this album, you probably don’t like rock and roll.
But rock and roll isn’t the point today. The point is that I got lost for a few weeks. I’m still not back, just sticking this message in a bottle (another 80’s reference?) to let anyone who might be interested know that I am still out here.
The funny thing is I got lost in the simplest thing: everyday life. In reality, nothing major really happened. Nothing catastrophic, not even anything that out of the ordinary, but all the sudden I woke up and felt like I had been in a dream wandering around aisle 7b looking for lentil soup and seeing nothing but coffee, coffee filters and tea. I was in the wrong place and didn’t even know how I got here. I guess that is how Lost in the Supermarket shook loose from an old brain cell and floated into my consciousness.
The most surprising thing, though is the lesson it taught me – or better yet is teaching me. One that has been bearing down for a while.
Somehow, somewhere I thought that taking on a new life in Christ meant that I wouldn’t get lost again. That somehow this new life in Jesus meant that whatever went on around me, people would look at me and see a Christian living like he should. I didn’t think I was to that point, yet, but I was beginning to think I could see it out on the horizon. Maybe going to a Methodist church with the talk of Christian perfection distorted something in my psyche (just kidding, and sorry Dennis, if you are reading).
But here I was lost in the supermarket and that guaranteed personality that I thought was the special offer for signing up with Jesus was no where to be found. And it only seemed fair to me that if I was going to carry my cross everyday (okay try to carry my corss every day), I should get a little help with putting down my baggage.
But as it turned out the baggage was just as heavy sometimes and that guaranteed personality, well, that was just something a misinformed salesman had mentioned without permission from the boss. And here I was in the same old stuff. The worst part was I was scheduled to get up in front of a church and talk about some topic from the bible and with all my baggage, I couldn’t even get my heart clear enough to decide what to talk about.
I desperately wanted to bail. Not that I mind speaking in front of a crowd (kind of like it actually… okay, I am a complete ham), but I had no business being there. How could someone so lost in the supermarket, so distracted by his everyday life have anything worth saying to “real” Christians? Then came the still small voice,
“my power is made perfect in your weakness” 2nd Corinthians 12:9.
And then it started becoming clear. There is no guaranteed personality. There is no promise of an easy life. In the words of Erwin Raphael McMannus (The Barbarian Way) Jesus’ purpose was not to save us from pain and suffering, but from a life without meaning (paraphrased). The only promise Jesus made was grace. Not faultlessness, but forgiveness. And grace only pervades your life when you need it. And to be honest, without grace Christianity is pretty close to being just a social club. It gets so tempting as we do our bible study, do good works and get so busy in church stuff, that we begin to think that somehow we are a little bit above the ones that don’t do as much and far above the ones that don’t even believe. But in reality, unless we recognize our need for grace, learn to thankfully accept grace, freely give grace and humbly live in grace, pretty much all the rest is for naught.
Because as Jesus pointed out about His mission on earth,
“I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.” Mark 2:17
And that is the gospel of grace. A gospel that becomes a message of extreme comfort for someone still lost in the supermarket.
Well, I guess I ought to pick up some toothpaste while I am here. Wonder what aisle that is in.
See you next week.
posted by MickyMcB | 1:44 PM
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