Spirituality of Cake

The old joke is that some people love cake so much it was among the reasons they get married. Regardless of how you feel about cake, there is a spirituality of cake that many times is overlooked. 

If you see a pie or a plate of cookies you don't usually think there must be a celebratory reason for their presence. But cake is different. If you see a cake and don't know why it is there, you will wonder if you missed an memo or perhaps wonder if you are about to be the victim of a surprise party. Because cake = party. 

We seem to know that cake always points to something else every time we see a cake, but we quickly forget this fact when the cake is cut and served. Many times, for good reasons, we pass on cake. We just ate, we are watching our calories, we have a food allergy, we are not big on chocolate or fondant. For one reason or another, we pass on the cake.

Then it happens: the celebration which the cake was pointing us toward, is now split. There are those who are participating and sharing in the celebration and then there are others who are, in some small way, not. 

The spirituality of cake is one of connection. It is one of being a part of the whole and sharing in the goodness of the moment. It is a physical gift, a metaphor for life's sweetness, an extension of relationships. 

So regardless of how you feel about cake. Take the cake. You don't have to eat the whole thing. Take the cake, because what they are handing you is more than cake. Take the cake and be a full participant in the moment that is truly a gift.

Another difference in self-help and spiritual formation

The self help industry is a huge monster of a thing that is a weird mix of accurate and pseudo versions of different disciplines. One of those disciplines that is in the mixture of self help is the discipline of spirituality. 

I would like to point out Christian spiritual formation is different from many expressions of self help. This is not to say that the self help world is wrong or inaccurate in the many claims made. Rather, it is more of a philosophical difference that I would like to bring to the surface. For instance, the difference Christianity and self help has with cracks and imperfections. Still others have written on how each Christianity and self help understand happiness differently.

Another difference that in Christianity and self help is how each of these philosophies understand vision.

The self help world understands vision like much of the academic world I encountered, which says something like this: Everyone sees the world through a set of lenses. You were born with a set of lenses that you see the world through and as we grew our lenses changed some but we still had these lenses on our eyes that colored the world as we experienced it. Thus the goal of education and self help is to teach us to examine these lenses so that we might see how it is our vision is different from others who see the exact same world.

Now this is not an inaccurate metaphor for how we see the world. However, what makes Christian spirituality different is that we do not think that we have lenses, but in fact that we are blind and cannot see. This is why the spiritual life is one that embraces humility, because we cannot see. Paul said that we see through dark glass, but he only said this after he was literally blinded. It is only when we come to the reality that we cannot see that we then can take the steps to admit that all the lenses we wear are dark at best. 

Yes we have lenses we see the world through and it is important to examine those lenses. However, the first step in Christian formation is to have our eyes opened, then we can clean the lenses.

A Disciple of Christ is?

source: theunitive.com/choose-generosity/

The UMC is a church that is dedicated to making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. This is a wonderful mission that I too have dedicated my life toward fulfilling. The problem is we don't really know what that means. 

One group may see a disciple of Christ as one who is pro-gun while another thinks disciples of Christ are pacifists. One group might see a disciple of Christ as one that warns people of hell and damnation if they don't accept Jesus while other groups think Christ brought universal salvation regardless of creed.

While it is true that disciples of Christ are advocates of love, even love is difficult to get Christian groups on the same page. Is it loving to kill a someone if you believe they are going to hurt your family? Is it loving to use fear to get people to accept Jesus because you really love them and want to do everything you can to ensure they will avoid the torment of hell? Is it loving to allow someone to just continue to live in sin without calling them to repent and change their ways?

So might I offer an alternative to think about what a disciple looks like? 

What would it look like to build a community of faith that defines a disciple of Christ as one who is growing in generosity? 

Giving more time, prayer, attention, resources. Giving more thanks, extending greater hospitality, being less attached to stuff. Having open palms and not clenched fists. 

I believe that God is generous. I do not believe God withholds things from creation or is stingy. I do not see Jesus as building barriers to God but rather his death tore open the curtain in the temple so all may access God. 

A disciple of Christ is at the very least one that is generous. If we are not growing in generosity then are we growing in Christ? 

While not a perfect metric, might faith communities focused on generosity be the same faith communities that are making disciples of Christ?