“i want some meat!”
“i wish we could get more meat!”
“we really need more meat!”
i know those of you who are struggling to buy groceries are thinking the same thing. but i’m talking about a different kind of meat that has nothing to do with grocery stores but everything to do with church. i have heard the cry for “meat” within the church ever since i became a true-blue evangelical church-going christian. when i entered into a season of spiritual and emotional healing about 14 years ago I remember demanding it myself. things started getting a little intense in my women’s group (people were really sharing honestly from their heart, not holding back, going the distance instead of faking it) and i told my group leader “i really wish we used the Bible more in here, i really want more meat! i really want to grow…” (i am now of course so embarrassed that I said this & after having seen the light a few years later confessed to her for not recognizing then that what we were doing in that little group was far more than just some stupid slab of spiritual meat—it was actually the whole cow!). but i was not alone in this kind of thinking. i hear it all the time, although now it is like nails on a chalkboard to me, maybe even like all of my children’s nails on a chalkboard all at once. and as you all know that is a lot of fingernails!
here’s what i think people mean by “meat.”
1. “Bible knowledge” - as in scripture verses and telling us exactly what they are supposed to mean. the more the better. a little bit of hebrew or greek translation adds the perfect spice.
2. “teaching” - teachers telling people what they think they need to learn or know in a very specific clear way so that we feel like we got a “lesson”, something motivating.
3. “certainty” – these are the facts and we are 100% certain that’s what this means and on top of that we are certain this is what you are supposed to do with this knowledge, too.
4. “a touch of shame” – some kind of moment that gets created when you think “now I’ll try harder….I need to be more godly…I am convicted and now this week I will get rid of that sin for good.”
while none of those things are inherently “wrong” what gets to me about all of them is they are sort of irrelevant to the gospel of Jesus. in fact, he said over and over to the religious leaders who had these 4 things mastered up and down, backwards & forwards, “ummm, guys, you are missing the point. here’s all that you need to do—be like me.” he didn’t say “go to a room, feed your belly with knowledge, get inspired and go home feeling spiritually fat.” he said, “hang out with the outcasts, the losers, the nonreligious, the prostitutues, the sick (oh, and by the way, that means you), get in touch with your brokenness & need for me and practice the way of self-sacrifice, generosity of spirit, humility and love. yes, my friends, this is what will change the world.”
i love the Bible. i think scripture can be transforming. but i also believe we have dismissed that true spiritual maturity is a life of serving others in tangible ways, humbling ourselves to the lowest place, giving up our comfort, money, time, pride for the sake of others. remember, the word of God became flesh, and that is what He did.
i think when we are honest what we really want is to be spoonfed spiritual milk and are terrified of true, tasty, Jesus steaks. most of the people i have been around through the years who demand “meat” are great, sincere believers. but usually their expressed desire for “meat” is actually them running for the safety of others who are more socially acceptable and sound more godly.
you see, the church has contaminated our taste buds. we have been taught to think that “spiritual” must include Bible knowledge, certainty, teaching, a touch of shame (and healing that looks like good behavior) so we keep seeking after it, church after church, Bible study after Bible study. but honestly, what it seems like to me is that people keep learning but never really apply much. we’re lonely but we never connect. we keep slipping in and out of services but never engage with a hurting person beyond “hi, nice to meet you.” we keep going to Bible studies & church meetings & services & prayer times hoping we’ll become more like Jesus and end up insulating ourselves more and more from the very places Jesus always was hanging out.
so here’s my soapbox mantra for the past 5 years or so, everytime I hear someone demand “meat”….“okay, no problem, look around. i see freezer after freezer full of it.”
reach out to someone in need no matter how messy it seems. help the poor. sacrifice your time and money. restore a broken relationship. love the outcast, especially the person that bugs the hell out of you. spend the time you waste watching TV investing in a person, no matter how young or old. stop nagging your spouse and change your behavior. serve someone else. open your home to others. force yourself to do something uncomfortable. get your head around the reality that you’re just as messed up as ‘those people’. humble yourself and let another person into your life. stay in a friendship for the long haul instead of running away.
and here’s what i believe usually happens next—never directly, always subtly—“nah, that kind of meat, i can do without. when does the next Bible study start?”
our taste buds have been contaminated. Jesus’ ways sometimes don’t initially taste too good going down. but for me, i have to say, nothing’s better than the aftertaste– the quiet moments when I notice where God’s spirit worked, what He is teaching me about me, life, humanity in the midst, and the beauty in the ugliness.
i know a lot of people think that at the refuge we are drinking milk. it sure tastes like steak to me.
Wow Kathy- strong post.
I used to like it medium well- not too threatening.
Closer to raw makes me nervous. I am more aware of my actual mortality, more aware of sacrifice, and the place I inhabit that way.
ooo.
Sage
Being raised in a Christian family, I think that the hard part is that this is the way that I’ve been trained and it’s difficult to go against that grain. Somewhere along the way, I’ve been taught that bible knowledge is “meat” and trumps all. If you can’t recite it then somehow, you’re less than adequate. I feel like I remember talking about missionaries, inviting people to church, and spreading the word, but I don’t remember that including actually hanging out and being with the poor, lost, and broken, or that I was ever poor, lost, or broken for that matter. In retrospect, something was definitely missing…
Your own personal jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone whos there
Feeling unknown
And youre all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
Ill make you a believer
Take second best
Put me to the test
Things on your chest
You need to confess
I will deliver
You know Im a forgiver
Reach out and touch faith
Reach out and touch faith
Your own personal jesus…
Feeling unknown
And youre all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
Ill make you a believer
I will deliver
You know Im a forgiver
Reach out and touch faith
Your own personal jesus
Reach out and touch faith
Kathy- Insightful article! I heard that call for “the meat of the word” through my years as a pastor. Often it came from some rather narrow, mean-spirited people, which makes one wonder. You nailed it. Jesus is about changing us and showing his love to others, not turning us into arrogant people who understand the bible.
Kathy…doesn’t seem like you’re “validating” their stories…
Ha. Great post Kathy. Lot’s off reflection here. It’s all a pain in the ass really. Those of us who finally come to this realization that “life” is Bible in the flesh/meat, we bang our heads against the wall trying to invite our brothers and sisters to join us, to take part in life…though they consistently fight to hold on, and we eventually choose to leave them be.
For better or worse, we choose to escape into another homogenous group…that’s where we are, why we’re hanging with you all…we want to retreat. To find our own kind of meat, albeit, from my perspective, a “life giving” meat, not that “other” meat that to me smells more like chicken nuggets. Though when we leave, to find a new home where I can have my “real meat,” I’ve left them with one less family member to stick around and help deal with the family baggage…and in light of that I find myself having a hard time chewing.
“Where was the tofu? Yeah, that sure was a good seven point sermon but I wish it had more tofu to it.”– #12 on the “Things you don’t ever hear after church” list.
Meat! That’s what I want and lots of it. Not regular 8oz serving size either, I’m talking the kind they serve in Texas. I want that 8lb steak that you get for free if you can eat it in one sitting. Tofu is for liberal wiennies. Meat makes your blood red and a full head of hair like Ronald Regan.
Meat is biblical. Jesus is the Lion of Judah and lions eat meat. As a matter of fact lions can eat 50lbs of meat in one sitting. (they also sleep 20 hours a day)
We should set up the front of the church like a butcher shop where meat is hung from big hooks. Kathy and Karl could wear aprons and wield clevers around like spirtual butchers.
John Wayne had 12 lbs of undigested meat in his colon when he died. I don’t know about you but as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t get any more american/religious than that!
john
do we really want meat? real meat? i see the meat all over the place,(the refuge is like a butcher shop) but it’s not the kind i want. the big juicy steak, the thanksgiving turkey or the christmas ham, that is what we all clamor for. but the true meat of the bible is not that tasty. it’s more like liver, tripe, tongue and chitlins. not the fun enjoyable stuff, but the dirty, disgusting food of the marginalized. the food of life. the life in the trenches, with the hurting, homeless, mentally and physically ill, the impoverished, under valued etc. i think that is what Jesus was talking about when He talked about meat. what most of us really want is to nurse on the milk and be spoon fed the gourmet meats, in very small portions, and we turn up our noses when presented the meats we will have to work hard to chew and stomach. i remember, as a child, leaving food on my plate at dinner and then complaining to my parents that i was hungry. hmm somethings don’t change all that much.
mike
sage - yeah, raw makes me nervous too. pretty & cooked perfectly and in the right portions, that is more manageable
anonymous#1-i agree, when our training & history is so engrained in us it’s hard to lean into something different
anonymous#2-love that song!
glenn - thanks for stopping by the refuge blog. i like your posts, too! arrogance has been one of my #1 problems throughout my christian life & i find myself struggling with it now, just in a different way. i can be so damn opinionated & i want to learn to value that there are many ways to skin a cat & i don’t have the market cornered. just trying to say “hey, maybe we should consider this, too…”
sam - i feel the dilemma–stay & be honest about where we are coming from or find others who are on the same page & escape the dissonance. it is a tricky dance, no easy answers. just getting kicked out of the system actually made it easier!
john - okay that image says it all…
mike - yep - liver, tripe, tongue & chitlins. maybe we need to develop a taste for it…
thanks for commenting, it makes it so much more interesting!!! love all the thoughts….