Baking Cookies
What’s your favorite kind of cookie? I truly wish that we were in a room together, eating sixteen different kinds of cookies and having this discussion as a way to get to know one another. It’s really hard for me to pick a favorite cookie. The recipe that I use for cookies is one of my favorites because it’s so versatile. I can change or swap a few ingredients and have most any kind of cookie that I want. It’s also really simple and ready in about thirty minutes. And,I think my cookies are delicious: fluffy, slightly chewy, and not too sweet. On any given day, I’m probably making chocolate chip cookies. Basic as it is, that’s likely my favorite.
Now, I don’t know all of you or all of your cookie preferences, but I’m willing to bet that crunchy, slightly dry, and flat are not on your list of things you love about a cookie.
If you’re new here, I’m Emily and I was fired from my job in ministry because I’m really good at it.
In my past life, the one where I got to do the thing I love most and am best at, I made a lot of cookies. College kids love cookies. Over the years, I perfected my cookie recipe and shared both it and the cookies with all and sundry. I didn’t really try to make a big deal out of this. It’s not a feature of my personality or something I’m particularly known for. I just make good cookies and share them with my friends.
A few years ago, another ministry staff person moved into the area and they really liked to make cookies, too. In fact, they always had cookies when everyone came over to their house. I loved this about them. We got to chatting and were discussing baking and all things cookies when I asked about their recipe. They told me it was from the back of a chocolate chip bag. No problem with this, seriously. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Except that it was broke. The cookies were simply not that good.
In my past life, when I got to do the thing that I love most and am best at, I spent time with a lot of people and listened to a lot of life stories. I sat with my friends when they mourned and grieved their childhood or other difficult things in their life. I listened to them and answered their phone calls when the wheels of their lives were coming off. I offered support, counsel, advice, and guidance through the turbulent years of college to dozens of students. I didn’t follow a play book. I didn’t really look for any rules. I studied the scriptures, spent time in prayer, and listened to Jesus for guidance on how to love my friends. I told some friends one thing and some friends another because a one-size-fits-all approach to spirituality is a recipe for trauma and disaster.
Though all people are made in God’s image, everyone is unique. Therefore, we need a versatile, yet simple approach to following Jesus that results in delicious, beautiful lives.
As I got to know the new ministry staff person, there were so many things that I really liked about them. They affirmed and agreed with many of my ministry practices and philosophies, something that the church I’d been a part of would never do. But they went to the church that I used to go to, even though I warned them against it. It was a bit of a conundrum to me that they could be part of that destructive community and also agree with me about so many things. I appreciated their strategic thinking, but it all seemed so formulaic. There was not room for the changes and messes that come with leading, well, people. It felt like they were trying to follow a script and build a system like the one that they were familiar with because they liked it and it worked well for them in another time and place. Again, there’s not a problem with this, unless there is. Formulaic culture building will certainly get you a culture, but it will be crunchy, slightly dry, and flat.
I hope you’re following me here. Religious leadership and religion in general is like the directions to make cookies that come on the back of a chocolate chip bag. They’ll work ok, but they won’t be anything special and they might not actually even be that good. In Christian terms, some folks will meet Jesus and successfully follow him for the rest of their lives, but they will all look the same and their lives will lack the simplicity, versatility, and deliciousness that’s meant to pervade the Kingdom of God. (Side note: I’m also not sure that they’ll truly be satisfied with this way of following Jesus, but that’s a discussion for a different day.) Many will feel left out and like there’s something wrong with them when it’s not them at all. They’re a simple, versatile, delicious cookie and this system is built for the crunchy, slightly dry, flat ones.
Following Jesus and building a culture that reflects who he is and the Kingdom that’s described in Scripture can’t be done by following the directions on the back of a package. Or in a book written by some white dude. Or by just literally doing everything that’s written down in the Scriptures (the people in the Bible are still people, so just because they do it don’t make it holy!!). You can’t master spirituality in the same way that you can master algebra. You’ve got to be flexible. There’s trial and error. The same things don’t work for every person, culture, or era in history.
If you want cookies that are simple, versatile, and delicious, you can’t follow the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag. You might start there, but you certainly can’t stay.
If you want a Christian culture that’s simple, versatile, and delicious, you can’t follow a formula. You could start there, but there are no silver bullets in the Kingdom of God.
One more thing about the cookies. The person who made the crunchy, slightly dry, flat cookies really wanted cookies to be their thing. They not only made them when folks came over to their house, but gave them away as gifts. Again, this is sweet, kind, and generous. But the cookies weren’t that good. I never really wanted cookies to be my thing. I wasn’t trying to prove myself in this area, I was just doing something to bless others and make them feel welcome in the community I was building.
We can try to make ministry or Christianity our thing. We can do all the “right” things and follow all the formulas and do what everyone else says that we should do. We can be sweet, kind, generous, and well-intentioned. We can even bless some folks along the way. But we can’t force it. We can’t do it because we’re trying to earn our place and make it our thing. It won’t work. It won’t be any good. You’ll end up worse than a bad cookie, you’ll be burnt.
Not only am I warning against religion and formulaic brands of Christianity in your personal practice, I’m warning you against even listening to them. Because they’re threatened by you. Religious Christians are threatened by the simplicity, versatility, and deliciousness of authentic followers of Jesus. Your freedom is intimidating to them because they can’t control it. And what they can’t control, they try to destroy. What they can’t destroy, they cast out.
It’s what happened to me. I’m Emily and I was fired from my job in ministry because I’m good at it. The religious, silver-bullet chasing Christians couldn’t control me, so they tried to destroy me by casting me out.
But they can’t even make a good cookie. What makes them think they can destroy me?