May the mumbling commence!
What gets a rise out of you? You know, something that gets at the very core of your being. That is where the strongest emotions known to humanity are buried. We know when they are struck because we feel it. The very hair of our bodies stands on end.
What gets a rise out of you is not always good. More often than not it is unhealthy. It is leaven that needs to fall by the wayside. Read a few verse from First Corinthians chapter five:
Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. (Verses 6-8)
Indeed, the things that get a rise out of us are often something we boast about. These are the things of my story. I think immediately for my love of story – in its many forms. There is the grand narrative of the Bible. There are the novels that I love to read – fantasy, horror, science fiction, biblical fiction… There are the stories acted out upon the silver screen and the stage.
Story gets a rise out of me. They help to define who I am. There is a thrill of being involved in a story – whether I am a reader, a member of an audience, an actor, or a writer. These things get a rise out of me. They are the yeast of my life.
In and of themselves, they are not bad things. But they can lead me down the path of narcissism and self-loathing. They do not keep me connected to the true meaning of my life – unless they are connected to Christ in some way.
If Christ our Lord gets the rise – the glory, then we are transformed. We are no longer leavened bread. We become flat bread – ready to be taught by the Spirit of Christ, ready for service at a moment’s notice, ready to accept the Bread of sincerity and truth. We become flat bread and acknowledge that the ground at the foot of the cross is level…
Because story is essential to my life, I must connect each of the stories that I am involved in – especially those that affect me most deeply. If there is a disconnect with the Spirit of Christ, then the stories must be jettisoned. The stories need to join amicably with the Greatest Story Ever Told – the story contained within the covers of the collection of books that I have read the most – the Bible.
May you and I seek to be flat bread Christians – teachable for the Spirit, accepting of sincerity and truth of Christ, and ready for service.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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