Saturday, May 30, 2009

Pops Pizza: Comfort food and comfortable familiarity

Today I went to my a buddy from high schools wedding in Cape Girardeau, about 2 hours south of where I live. It was a wonderful ceremony, but thats really not what I'm going to talk about. So, Matt and Tasha, I love you and congratulations!

After the wedding I met my old Young Life director (who's now a Pastor at a church in Cape, he also officiated the wedding) at perhaps my all-time hands-down favorite restaurant on the planet: Pops Pizza. The place is like a time warp. Pretty much EXACTLY how I remember it from high school. We enjoyed off-campus lunch privileges and with a $5 pizza buffet + drink Pops was (and still is) unbeatable.

The thing about Pops is that its actually a bit dingy. I'm so spoiled in my suburban West-County ivory tower if I went there for the first time today, I might have thought it was a little gross. But what makes Pops so great is that it remains unchanged.

C.S. Lewis talks about what I'm trying to get at in "The Four Loves" with familiarity comes affection. Even something that initially strikes us as unpleasant can with time and consistency become charming. Comfort brings affection. We grow to love the familiar. So the pizza place of questionable quality (certainly questionable caloric content, and if I say that you KNOW its bad) with its smeared sneeze guard and sticky tablecloths becomes a thing of beauty. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Last year my church built a new facility. During the moving process when people would get nostalgic about the old building I would try to keep from rolling my eyes. Maybe its a little sad that I'm comparing how I feel about a pizza place to how others feel about their place of worship for so many years, but I have to say I can sympathize a little bit.

In his book "Intuitive Leadership" Tim Keel talks about what happens when God's people get sentimental and rely to much on the past. Talking about the Israeli/Philistine battles in 1 Samuel:
"...what Israel does in their moment of crisis is revert to their past...Israel could have said 'this was the pattern of God's activity in the past. Based on that, how do we discern what to do now?' But in the confusion and pain of their environment, Israel looks to her glorious past. Implicit in this move is an assumption that because God operated in such a manner in the past, he will do so again...The reality is that God's activity in the past can become a stumbling block in the present. When we refuse to engage the environment as it is before us now, we become prone to sentimentality, going through the motions, employing totems, and spouting meaningless God talk..."
So in conclusion, Pops Pizza is a great place to visit but after a fierce inner debate not a place to oft' return. Likewise, Christians need to always be monitoring our mission, our motivations, and our methods so that we don't become so sentimental that we're detrimental to God's work in the world while we sit undistrubed in our monuments of nostalgia.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Youth MiniStarz

Grandma Betsy


Many friends already know, but Grandma passed away May 19th in Kirksville. She had suffered a stroke. She lived a long, full 84 years, loved and was loved by many. She had lived in Edina pretty much her whole life and was still in the same house that they had bought in 1954! She was honored at her funeral, and I am so glad my whole family was there to grieve and go through all of that week together.

I thought I'd just put up these photos. The top one is very special. It was given to a family member only two weeks ago! It was from someone who went to high school and Grandma and was on the softball team with her. So the top one is of Grandma when she was 16. The bottom one is of Sarah, Grandma, and I at Christmastime. My Uncle told me it was one of her best days in a long time. We will always treasure our last Christmas all together. Grandma, we love you and will miss you dearly. I will close as my Dad did in a prayer at her bedside: Jesus, we reluctantly but willfully commend her into your care.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009