A Tale of Two Peanut Butters
Sometimes I think that the difference between those in the current and the previous world-view can be measured in terms of how they like their peanut butter.
Take the “mainstream” peanut butters of today and of your childhood. Â If you’re under 60 years old, you’ve enjoyed peanut butter that you never had to stir. Â It came ready to scoop and serve.
If however you’ve ever bought “natural” peanut butter or remember the days before they added preservatives and cottonseed oil into peanut butter, you know that there’s a little work involved in getting your peanut butter jar ready to use. Â The first time you open up the can, there’s a lovely pool of peanut oil congealing at the top… not something you want to nibble on with your morning toast. Â So you spend 3-5 minutes stirring and mixing the PB until its up to snuff.
Why does anyone buy peanut butter you have to work so hard to eat? Â Easy – just turn the jar around – the ingredients of natural PB are “peanuts, salt.” Â That’s it. Â There’s nothing between you and the joy of eating ground up peanuts. Â There are fewer additives, chemicals…its less “sciencified.” Its closer to the source. Â Even better – you get to be a part of the process of making it your peanut butter. It tastes a little better when you help out.
Maybe our world is willing to do the work again. Â Maybe we can sort recycling out from our rubbish, maybe we can make our own cleaning supplies.
Maybe we can simplify our church community in similar ways – choosing to BE the church we want to see in the world. Â We can do it ourselves – we don’t need professionals to stir our spiritual peanut butter for us! Â We don’t need them to do the work – we can handle it – in fact, we find joy in the process!
Seth Cox is discussing.