Member Berries

Some years back South Park had a couple episodes where a set of characters showed up and changed everything.  They were called "member berries" and when eaten, the childlike berries made you reminisce constantly about the past, how wonderful it was, and great it would be to "get back there" - or something like that.

Member Chewbacca?

Member Ghostbusters?

Member feeling safe? 

Etc.

They represented the hopeful times of parts of the past and, at the same time, sour grapes over the fact those times were gone and that they also were mixed with less than great and hopeful things.

It was pretty funny and kind of made a good point about how fond memories for good times in the past can lock us into a way of being that glorifies the past and keeps us from engaging the reality around us now with hope and relevance - especially for those who weren't part of the past we enjoyed.

Though it's changing a little, there's still a staunch collective in my tribe of origin who still revel in the "glory days" of when good things were happening.  Like, "back when we were the fastest growing religious group in America" And like when Pat Boone, Weird "Al" Yankovic, Meatloaf, and Jeffrey Dahmer were somehow, at some point, associated with our tribe. 

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And every tribe has that same dynamic, not just mine.  

It's like the guy who played high school football and still sees those days as his best ever and regularly re-lives them with anyone who'll listen.

No one who knows the guy now has any context of what to do with his story of playing tight end or on defense or whatever.  So he gets together with others who like sharing stories from their past and they talk together and tell their war stories.

Religious tribes do that too.  We remember certain events.  We remember favorite speakers or preachers at those events.  We remember songs and worship leading teams.  We remember camps and special events. 

We remember our Christian college experiences (well, some do) & how it was just a slice of what heaven is gonna be like.  We remember "getting baptized" and people crying.  Etc.

And all those things hold a deep and special meaning to those who "grew up with it" or "grew up in it".

Those experiences are tied tightly with their understanding of God, "being saved", what "church" is or is supposed to be, and who is "in" and who is "out".

In fact, that's one of the hard things about the "member berries" of religious tribes. 

Unless you grew up in it or with it, it's very hard to relate to it. 

When people who grew up with those "member berries" offer them to outsiders who didn't grow up with them, it's not unusual to see outsiders look at them with puzzlement, humor, or maybe even disbelief.

It's hard for insiders to grasp that their "member berries" aren't seen with the same warmth, good feelings, and sense of community.  

For some "insiders", if an outsider rejects the insider's "member berries"/favorite religious experiences it is essentially like they are rejecting God and all that is holy.

And many insiders simply don't see it.  And I get it.  I was one. I remember a time when our tribal ways were "God's ways" and to reject our ways was to reject God.

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In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul said...

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. 

To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 

To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. 

I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  

I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Paul was working pretty hard to bring people to know what God had and was doing through Jesus.  

He wanted people to know the amazing things God did and there was no cultural line he wouldn't cross to help people to hear the good news.

And once he got the chance to tell them the good news and they believed it, he wasn't trying to drag them back across a cultural line and into what we'd call "Christian culture".

He could share Jesus with someone who had no idea about Judaism or the Law.  He could share Jesus with someone from a "pagan" background.  He could talk to the poor, the weak, the legalist, the lawless, etc.

It wasn't a prerequisite for whoever Paul encountered to have to be able to understand, relate to, and enjoy some body of "insider knowledge" that other believers had.

They didn't have to "go to church" and suddenly develop a taste for southern gospel, or for "raising hands" in a worship service, or for any other religious favorites people might have developed.

He brought them to Jesus, not the the experiences that some Jesus followers enjoyed.  Why?  Because those are different things.  In my tribe, we'd say "separate and a part".

Bait and switch was not the game he was playing.  It was all bait.  It was all Jesus.

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What's nice is knowing that we can join Paul in what he was doing - just sharing what God was doing in Jesus.

A lot of people who've rejected "church" for different reasons over the years (and maybe you're one of them) might see you with suspicion at first and that's okay.

When they see you sharing God for free and without trying to get them to drink some Koolaid, they might respond with a little openness and want to know why you're not like all those other people who say God loves them and then tell them God's going to send them to hell.

Try it.  Pace yourself.  Be ready for a little pushback from people who might not yet know there's a difference between their Christian subculture and what God is doing through Jesus.  

Okay, maybe be ready for a lot of pushback at times.  

I remember pushing back strongly at one time and being in disbelief that people couldn't see how "church culture" wasn't also God's culture.

Be patient with people.  

I know a lot of people were patient with me.

Seeds can take a long time to grow.  

And God knows how to cause growth.

Let him be in charge of it - he is anyway.

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Now of days, I have different "member berries".  

Now I see times when God has taken me off a well designed map I thought everyone was supposed to follow and said, just follow me.

Now I see where he's said "trust and depend on me" and not "you better be good, or else".

Now I see where he's said, "I know it's super confusing to find out that I didn't say all those things that some people said I did, but give it time - I'll walk you through it".

Now I do look back, even on times when I was pushing back, and I see that he was working with me and walking me out of a minefield I didn't know I was in.

Now "I member" so much more than I imagined I would be possible to know and believe.

I remember.