Saturday, Keaton and I spent the day together running errands. One of our stops included refreshments at our local coffee shop. It is fun and funky and the bathroom is particularly cool. The writing on the wall is always a crowd pleaser and a FABulous place to take pictures. It is so outside of the box, you get a big sense of Whatever It Is. Maybe you can put your finger on it but I have been in this bathroom more than once and it always amazes me.
I am a big icon person. Icons are a powerful tool to remind me of what is true without being overwhelmed but there are times that we need to be overwhelmed.
At church yesterday during the singing, they did the icon thing. They pasted Kentucky Fried Chicken buckets filled with small, wrapped honey-type candies. We were instructed to each take one and pass them along. After the proper allegeric warnings were give, we were invited to share in a mini carbohydrate communion and think about the many times honey is referred to in the bible and basically link it's sweet taste to the goodness of God. I am sure there were lots of folks who enjoyed the moment and not meaning any disrespect, I couldn't stop thinking about a sermon I had heard talking about the same thing in a little different way.
Rob Bell tells about the early days and how the little children were taught by rabbis. He went on to tell about honey being poured lavishly over the learning tablets that each child had and they were instructed to lick all that honey (which was their favorite treat - no gummy worms in those days). Can you imagine how long it must have taken to lick the slate clean? I imagine that the rabbi probably never said a word - he just let them go. In their own time with their own thoughts and letting whatever lessons they would learn from God, to come.
With that image in my head, I put the candy in my pocket. For me, to explain the sweetestness of God will always be bigger than life. I think we do ourselves an injustice sometimes when we try to explain Him in terms we can understand. The piece of candy I can understand, the lavishness of unmeasured honey, I can't. That is the world I find myself drawn to. That is how I want to explain Him to the world. That is where I feel the most Loved, where I can't explain it.
