Southmoon & A Cup of Java

Simple often trumps complicated.

Simple keeps the main thing the main thing.

Simple is very seldom beside the point.

A few days ago Deb and I traveled to Tennessee to visit her parents.  Per usual, we went out to eat a few times at some of their favorite places around Memphis.   The ones I enjoy most are the ones with lots of local color.  Not of the franchise variety but original, one of a kind places.

Deb’s parents live outside Memphis in a little town called Oakland on Highway 64.  Deb’s mom announced one morning that she wanted to take us to a little place for lunch but we would need to hurry to get there because they served only lunch and they only prepared enough food for that one meal per day.  She elaborated that sometimes folks arrived late only to be told they were “out of food” and to “come back tomorrow a little earlier”.   I was intrigued.  We left early and I pushed the speed limit.

We motored East past Somerville and a little piece further down the road, Deb’s mom told me to slow down and take the next left turn on Laconia Road.  We turned down a little 2 lane road to what turned out to be Laconia, Tennessee.  Population….. counting dogs, cattle and people couldn’t have possibly been more than a few dozen, although it had its own post office, so I guess it shows up on a map somewhere.   When I Googled it later, I was surprised to find there was a web cam photo posted so I punched it up.  It appears to be someone’s back yard complete with bird feeders and birdhouses.

You get the idea.   This is a small rural town.  The restaurant didn’t appear to have a name posted over the door.  The gravel parking lot was filled with lots of pickup trucks.  Several people nodded howdy as we moved past a group of folks  enjoying the shade of the porch near the entrance.  We entered through a squeaky hinged wood frame door and entered the dining area.  I noticed right away that the post office is accessed from inside the dining area.  The post office sign was hand painted on a simple wooden sign affixed just over the counter.

The dining room was lined with walls of dusty antiques and collectibles.  Most were for sale but appeared to have been on the shelves for a long time.  The floors were of the well worn wood variety.  A pot belly stove was there for the comfort of those dining in the winter.    No two tables were alike and the chairs were equally as diverse.  Everything was clean and sanitary but old and worn.

The menu that day consisted of Chicken Dumplings, the kind my aunt Ramona used to make.  Green beans, corn bread, pork roast, corn and home made pie and sweet tea rounded out the days menu.   The meals were prepared by ladies who likewise reminded me of my Aunts Ramona and Aunt Jeanette.   I was carried for a time back to my childhood days filled with family gatherings, home cooked meals and friendly mealtime chats.

There are a few franchises who advertise food as home cooked but this was the real McCoy.   It tasted fresh out of the garden and was deliciously satisfying down to the final fork of chocolate pie I washed down with the last swig of sweet iced tea.

As I paid for our meals, I had a short visit with the owner,  Mr. Dowdy.  He shook my hand and said he was glad we had stopped by and  invited us to come back again.  I asked him a few questions about the history and origin of the restaurant and he gave me just the information I was inquiring about but kept it conversational and brief.   In other words, he didn’t preach me a sermon about it, we just had a friendly conversation about  the food and what would be on the menu if we stopped by later that week.

He kept is simple, conversational and friendly.   The food, the atmosphere and the comfort of the whole experience just made me want to come back again the next time I am in the area.

By the way, did I mention that the cost of the meal, drink, desert and everything was $5 per person?  They’re not in it to make a killing.  They like serving good food.  Authentic, wholesome, tasty and served with a smile.  Priced so most anyone can eat there.

As I considered the day’s dining experience, I couldn’t help but make some comparisons to my work as a Christian.  I’m thinking that people who are searching for spiritual guidance, teaching and insight, probably prefer simple over complicated.

Spiritual offerings served up with authenticity…..

Served up with a smile and a “yall come back again” friendliness.

Small congregations like the one where I serve are sometimes envious of the “big box” churches who are able to do things in big ways.  And some of those big churches do a masterful job of getting the truth taught.  But those of us who are small have just as much to offer if we stick with authenticity and treat people as friends rather than customers.

Serve up God’s love in simple and uncomplicated ways and keep the main thing the main thing.   Thankfully, God’s work can be done in simple ways with limited resources.

How good of God to offer us so many ways to do His kingdom work.

I never liked my mom telling me what to do.

The older I got the more it bugged me.  I resisted, rebelled and revolted.

Thing is….she was mom and I usually wound up giving in and doing as she said.

Over time we realize that mostly our mothers are just trying to

shape our character, shoo us into being good persons 

and clue us into the way to live a good life.

In that regard,  I’ve always been intrigued by the story of Jesus in John 2 where he changes the water into wine.  The miracle is note worthy being as it is the first miracle recorded in John’s gospel.  Almost as a bonus benefit, we find imbedded in this miracle narrative an insight into a son’s relationship with his mother.

A wedding in those days was an occasion for the host family to put out their best food and drink in celebration.  To run out of wine would be an embarrassment to the host family.  Mary surveys the situation and announces to her son, “They have no more wine”.  Any son knows that such a statement coming from a mother is not just an observation or information sharing.

Mary wants Jesus to do something about it.  You can tell by Jesus’ response that there is a reluctance in his response,  “Dear woman, why do you involve me?”  Mary takes on an air of matronly urgency as she says to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you”.

And so the first miracle gets done by a son prompted by a mother’s persistence and compassionate concern for a wedding party that almost went bad.

It is not clear in this interchange if the conversation between Jesus and Mary was within ear shot of the others or not.  I would rather presume that Mary quietly and discreetly spoke to Jesus before later including the servants in the conversation.

If, in fact, this earlier exchange is indeed just between Jesus and Mary, it is a real gem because it lets us listen in on a conversation between mother and son that is elsewhere in scripture found very rarely if ever.

A further pondering is just how the Apostle John comes to know of this interchange. 

Flash forward to John 19:25ff where Jesus is on the cross and looks down at Mary and John  and says, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother”.

From this exchange, we surmise that Jesus is commissioning the apostle John, known as “the disciple whom he loved”,  to take care of his mother.   We don’t know how long a period of time Mary lived under John’s care but it seems to reason that Mary would have had abundant opportunity during that time to reflect with John on the many things she “treasured in her heart”.  (Luke 2:51)  One can only imagine the stories and memories Mary (could have/would have?) shared with John.  Perhaps the story of the wedding miracle was one of her cherished memories to revisit.  Perhaps this is how John gets the dialog which took place between Jesus and Mary at the wedding feast.

This event, it would seem, would have been a most cherished memory for Mary.  After all, it is the only miracle of which we are aware, where Mary is present and an active part of the carrying out of one of Messiah’s wonder-works.

It is common knowledge that mothers cherish the memories of special moments with their children.  Undoubtedly this event would loom large in Mary’s memory of her son.  In her memory, it was not just the significance of the miracle worked that day but her participation in the grand work of her Savior/Son as he did the Father’s work.

To mom’s everywhere and in every age, we owe our thanks for helping us see what we might have missed otherwise.  With your guidance and instruction, we are discovering the way to live a life which embraces and participates in God’s good work here on earth.  

Click here to listen to a song of tribute to moms written and performed by Josh Cleveland.

Last Fall I read James Bryan Smith’s trilogy on Spiritual Formation.  The Good and Beautiful God, The Good and Beautiful Life and The Good and Beautiful Community.

Smith begins the series with the exploration of who God is, then moves on to the Life we are called to and in the third book in the series….. the calling to community….that is…..our call to be a part of the Church.   The terms “Good and Beautiful” suggest that God’s big idea has always been about involving all of creation in His project of setting to rights all that Satan has sought to disengage, dismantle and destroy.  ”Good and Beautiful” are terms which remind me of God’s own evaluation of Creation when He saw all that He had made and said, “it is good”.

In the Good and Beautiful Community, Smith reveals two conflicting narratives, one of  which leads to disillusionment and spiritual anemia or the other which leads to a robust faith based upon accountability and encouragement.  Here is a taste of Bryan’s insightful  observations in his own words:

False Narrative: The community serves my needs.  We live in a consumer culture.  Each day we are treated as a customer, and this leads us to believe we are entitled to have all of our needs met.  We have become spoiled…..While it may be true that treating churchgoers as consumers by trying to meet their stated needs may make them feel comfortable, by lowering our expectations of them as active participants we are decreasing the possibility of genuine transformation.  p. 129

True Narrative: The good and beautiful community is not made of merely comfortable Christians but Christlike men and women growing in their life with God and each other.  In order to become that kind of community we need a new narrative, a biblical narrative, to reshape our behavior.  Here is the new narrative regarding the rights and responsibility of the community:  The community exists to shape and guide my soul.  The community has a right to expect certain behavior from me, and can provide the encouragement and accountability I need. p. 129

Smith’s ideas resonate with my own observations of how people become disillusioned with unrealistic expectations about what being in a church community is about.   I have listened countless times to those who are ready to give up on church because “their needs are not being met” as if church is about providing proper “bang for the buck”.

While I agree that being in a church community should have benefits and meet needs, it has become far too commonplace that church members have fallen to the whims of what Smith terms  “a consumer culture”.    We have lost sight of the divine agenda of God to transform each us individually for His spiritual purposes.  Collectively as the church, we are called to participate with God in his project of bringing renewal, restoration and redemption to a world desperate to be given hope.

Ever since reading Mark Batterson’s Wild Goose Chase, I had anticipated reading more of his insightful and revealing and inspiring work.

Soul Print was not a disappointment. He writes with a purpose and a flair for turning the reader to an introspective consideration of spiritual truths. Soul Print concerns itself with the idea of our being made in the image of God and with a unique blend of gifts, traits and potentials that reveal to us God’s special purpose for our lives. Near the end of the book, he summarizes his thesis in this statement:

The soulprint is the truest reflection of God’s image. Locked within its vaults are your true identity and your true destiny. And part of what makes it mysterious is that it’s so multidimensional. It contains past, present, and future. It’s who I was, who I am, and who I am becoming. p. 146

The reader will find within Batterson’s book, insights into the personal struggles and precise moments when the author reveals having seen God’s purpose in his life. The book concludes with a section devoted to small group exploration of the ideas found within.

Small groups, book clubs, and conversations over coffee, will benefit from the springboards of thought provided by Batterson.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

All too infrequently Christian perspectives are given which seek to glamorize the Godly life as easy, convenient and happy.

If you read Crabb’s book with that anticipation you will be disappointed and perhaps even a little miffed.  The book, Shattered Dreams supports the idea that rich and deep and full relationships with God only come about when individuals learn to embrace the hope that transcends heartache and disappointment and pain.   In Crabb’s own words:

“We must discover a hope that thrives when dreams shatter, when sickness advances and poverty worsens and loneliness deepens and obscurity continues, the same hope that anchors us to God when dreams come true.”  p. 30

The theme of the book is developed utilizing the rich narrative material found in the Biblical book of Ruth.  This biblical basis challenges us to look deeper into a familiar story to achieve some unexpected benefits.  In doing so, Crabb gives us a fresh look at the truth that God is there even when we experience loss.  He pushes his point even further to insist that only through shattered dreams can we discover the fulfillment of our dreams and hence….. true joy.

For those who are struggling with failed relationships, chronic illness or the loss of a loved one, you will find a solid argument for not giving up on God.

You will not find pat answers or empty platitudes. You will not find quick resolution to speed you through the process of pain and loss.

What you will find is something which will resonate in its honesty and truth….something you can lean your full weight on.  If you are like me, at times you’ll want to poke holes in the argument Crabb is making because it feels weighty and as if he is insisting that we permanently embrace, even pursue pain, but stay with him.  He will offer you a path out of the land of shattered dreams.  In this book you will encounter robust theology and practical insights for living well.

For those who read this book and yearn to share its benefits with others, there is a study guide of over one hundred pages which is divided into an 8 week format for small group use.   I can guarantee this book will have practical and lasting benefits to those who read it.

It will equip, encourage and enliven your walk with God.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review