Coffee is gross
We have a calling toward radical Christian unity--yes, even with that denomination
I’ve recently been called a boring adult because I don’t like coffee, tea, or alcohol.
I don’t know, I’m just built different. Sue me. Those drinks, apparently associated with adulthood, just don’t taste great to me. If that makes me a boring adult, so be it.
Growing up around many adults who liked coffee, I quickly realized that for many of them, it wasn’t about the taste. It was about the energy that coffee provided. For a lot of people, it seems coffee-loving borders on chemical dependency!
In fact, I was told by many older adults when I entered college that I would like coffee by the end of my university career. They were convinced that it would be nigh impossible to survive college and all the work it required without depending on large amounts of caffeine. How else would I get through sleepless nights finishing papers and early mornings attending 8am classes with very extroverted professors and poorly planned evening student events? Coffee, I was assured, would sustain me through these trials.
Though in the 3 years I completed my bachelor’s degree, I didn’t acquire a taste for coffee. So then I was told, mostly by professors and grad students, that in getting my master’s degree and especially in completing a master’s thesis, that I would be forced to cope with coffee. Surely, in grad school, I would develop a taste for coffee!
Yet that prediction didn’t come true either, although, I admit, I occasionally procured a cinnamon mocha to get through my classes. It wasn’t about the taste though! It’s just that even though I do find it fascinating to hear about the homoiousios vs. homoousios controversy at Nicene, even I sometimes need some stimulants to remain awake through a three-hour-long theology lecture!
For many of my mentors and guides, they assumed that coffee was an essential component of education. They thought that because they needed it when they went through the same experience. They were absolutely convinced! But I didn’t turn to coffee as my ultimate stimulant savior. I proved that you can go through two college degrees without a chemical dependency.
I mean, I did have a Dr. Pepper addiction. But we aren’t talking about that here!
Many times in life, we meet people who are convinced that their way or their experience is the right way to do things. They believe they’ve figured it out! Any other path is not possible.
Drinking coffee is, of course, a low-stakes and silly example of this. But our faith communities are filled with about a thousand and a half more examples! Just a jaunt into #ChristianTwitter and you’ll find someone who’s figured out the one and only way to get to heaven, to worship God, and to organize the church. Amazon is littered with self-published books that finally purport to tell us exactly how the End Times will take place, and 9 times out of 10, the most recent Democrat President always ends up being the Antichrist. You can hit up any main street in much of the West and find 10, 20, 30 different churches of different names with different beliefs!
We’re a far cry from Jesus’ prayer that it will be through Christian unity that “the world will know that you [God] sent me and have loved them” (John 17:23).
Basically, a lot of Christians think you have to drink coffee in order to survive college—so to speak.
What do we do with all this diversity in our faith? After 2,000 years, there sure are a lot of people who have said they’ve figured it out—who know exactly how it’s supposed to be. It even took me a while to find the map above because every major tradition has their own version that just so happens to show their line as the right one and every other brand as a perversion of historic early Christianity.
Lucky for you, I’m going to tell you which branch of Christianity is right.
Drumroll please…
Just kidding, you don’t get that answer. Not today.
Instead, I want to ask a totally different question, away from questions of “rightness” which we can instead debate in the academy or the catechism class. Our question for today is: How are we supposed to live amidst this Christian diversity?
The thing that strikes me as fascinating is that the New Testament is not so much concerned with us getting everything right, especially in terms of our theological conceptions. In fact, it’s assumed some differences are going to arise—schisms erupted right at the beginning of the faith according to Acts. Almost from Day 1, not everyone was on the exact same page.
Instead, what’s by and large emphasized is the way in which we live with and love one another, despite our differences. Philippians 2:2-4 tells us that it’s about focusing on what we do have in common:
“…make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Ephesians 4:3-6 urges us toward always practicing unity in similar ways.
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Finally, Paul prays in Romans 15:5-6 that:
“the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Obviously, correct beliefs are important! The New Testament warns of false prophets, false teachers, and false apostles. Yet, what’s interesting to me is that Scripture hints that deceivers are more often than not characterized by spreading disunity and chaos and schisms! Often, it’s their deeds more than their words that are highlighted in Scripture.
The antidote to the false teaching is to stick together! To be unified! To be of one mind and spirit and love. Even in the earliest portrait of Christian community life, Acts 2:42-47, the focus is completely on their life in common and not on if they passed a theology test or structured their churches correctly or conducted worship exactly in the right manner.
I won’t pretend that I’ll see the dissolution of denominations in my lifetime in pursuit of real Christian unity. There’s always going to be bickering about this thing or that. But I do pray that in my lifetime, especially as the Church continues to lose its foothold over spheres it once enjoyed influence over, that different Christian communities may come together in love and share what we have, just like the early church. Just like the Church with a capital C is supposed to be.
So with that thought: Hug a Catholic. Fist bump a Baptist. Grab a beer with a bearded Reformed guy—I’m told they like that. Smile at a dispensationalist and play ping pong with a charismatic. If you have some time, sing harmony with a Church of Christ fellow.
Then the world will see our unity and know the power of God.
It’s not that the differences don’t matter; it’s that our bond in the Spirit matters more. We are stronger together. Infighting just pushes the world away from Jesus. In our individual lives, in the moments that count, have the same mind as Jesus and join with your brothers and sisters in all flavors of Christianity to fight the good fight and preach the Gospel to all nations.
Even if you like coffee, I still love you. That’s what my Savior would want.
Question of the Week
Leave your answer in the comment section below or reply to this email.
How can we foster unity among different church traditions?
My “Goings On”
Super Jake book 2, “Super Jake and Kool Kenny” is out now!
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I’ll have a hot chocolate,
Jake Doberenz
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I grew up Baptist, became pretty Reformed Baptist in my twenties, and spent the last few years at a Presbyterian church where my wife worked. When she lost that job, it coincided with a feeling that we were done with more mainstream evangelical types of worship -- the bright lights, 3 songs (with the chorus repeated 4 times), and a sermon that felt like a TED Talk. We stumbled upon an Anglican church in our area and we immediately fell in love with it.
And it's funny, because I realize a lot of what I now love about the liturgical service and weekly focus on the Eucharist are things that, as a Baptist, I would have raised my eyebrow at because it felt "too Catholic" (even though the theology itself is very Protestant). I've found it helpful to stand and repeat our confessions and prayers corporately, to pray prayers that were written hundreds of years ago, and to center the service around the Lord's Table, with the sermon an important but not central component of our service. A few weeks ago, I told my wife that I was surprised to actually feel the Lord's presence; growing up Baptist, we were discouraged from having any true spiritual experiences, and my Reformed brothers and sisters seemed too eager to answer every question instead of realizing that sometimes God wants us to sit in the mystery.
I think a lot of what I love about our service is because it's found a way to maintain unity among different denominations and traditions better than anywhere else I've found. Theologically, it's very protestant. But it's also very spirit-centric and focused on living out the Gospel and loving others. And its worship is often very liturgical, pulling from a lot of traditions still associated with Catholicism. I really love it. It's not perfect, but I think it does allow a unity among different practices that I haven't found elsewhere.
Okay, but what about Bubble Tea?
-Tyler Clark