Last week we had a birthday dinner at our house for Adam’s Grandma (“GG” to the kids), who just turned 75. The kids and I had a blast getting everything ready. We started the white chili in the morning, then baked bread, made the cake and frosting, and then set a fall-themed table. We had a great time that night celebrating GG and eating lots of yummy food.
Feasting is fun. But while we cooked and baked, my mind kept going back to the book I finished last week, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, and some things author Jen Hatmaker says about feasting and the church.
Hatmaker points out that the Bible teaches both feasting and fasting, but the church in America is so busy consuming everything, we’ve forgotten how to fast. We skim over the uncomfortable things Jesus says to do—deny yourself, take care of the needy, stop accumulating material possessions—and mostly dwell on how God wants to bless us.
Hatmaker describes how the early church was known for their generosity and wonders what they would think of Christians in America today. “Would they wonder why we all had empty bedrooms and uneaten food in our trash cans? Would they observe orphan statistics with disbelief since Christians outnumber orphans 7 to 1? Would they be stunned most of us don’t feed the hungry, visit the prisoner, care for the sick, or protect the widow? Would they see the spending on church buildings and ourselves as extravagantly wasteful while twenty-five thousand people die every day from starvation?” Then she notes that despite our tendency to emphasize the feast over the fast, the American church is shrinking, losing three million people annually.
Sometimes when we think about all the ways we’re falling short as believers, it’s almost paralyzing. There’s so much we need to change and it seems like nothing we do will ever be enough. And how can we think about trying to do more when life as it is feels overwhelming? When it’s a struggle just to pay the bills and keep up with the kids? Aren’t we all already exhausted?
But maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Maybe instead of doing more we should first work on doing less. Less buying, less wasting, less mindless activity, less thinking about all the things we want. Lately Adam and I have been asking ourselves some questions. Can we skip this trip to the store and make do with what we have? Sometimes. And we usually end up less frazzled, with more money the bank. Can we do without cable? Yes. Again, lots of money saved and extra time for other things. (But we do miss it, probably way more than we should.) Should we consider (gulp) switching to cloth diapers, mainly out of principle—to simply consume less? Yes, I’m willing to consider it. As in, think about it some more. 🙂
How does saying no to ourselves make a difference in the kingdom of God? Well, hopefully it’ll lead to more time, money, and energy to spend on others. But it’s also about trying to live more like Jesus did. To feast and enjoy it. And also to fast, allowing God to work in us and through us.
8 comments for “Doing Less”