I’d be a big fibber if I told you I didn’t like good food.
The trouble is I’ve got a champagne taste and ginger pop money. Nevertheless, it doesn’t stop me from
enjoying the foodie programmes and the odd culinary indulgence.
On Monday I watched Nigella Lawson do her goddess thing by
suggesting that whatever you find in your fridge you can do something amazing
with it. Unfortunately, when she opened her fridge it had little resemblance to
mine. I am happy for her that she “never
gets fazed with doing impromptu entertaining for guests that drop in” But for
me she is hardly the people’s cook.
I suspect that crown belongs to affable Essex boy Jamie Oliver, a
crown once worn by Delia Smith and Marguerite Pattern. And he does turn out a
good book of recipes. His programme is
also currently on and called Jamie’s Garden. Worth a watch. Though the
graphics are dead annoying.
But the guy I personally like knocking up something in the
kitchen is Heston Blumenthal, or as Terry Wogan calls him, “Heston Bloomin’
‘eck”.. His new programme is on Tuesdays, BBC2 and called In Search
of Perfection.
The man is a genius.
He has been described as the man who got lost on the way to
the science lab and found himself in the kitchen.
Last night saw him go in search of the perfect burger. He scours the world, tests beef for the
perfect tissue texture, blends, wraps, freezes, calculates bite size,
experiments with elasticity, and emulsifies proteins and fats with sodium
citrate. Dontcha just want one now?
The problem is a burger is a burger. It is a fast-food experience. So all this
effort would seem slightly contradictory.
Being a perfectionist is a blessing and a curse. At worse, it makes you intolerant of someone
who is less able than you and becomes a nightmare for all people around. At best, it means that you are driven to give
the best experience possible and aspires others to aim higher for themselves.
As a church pastor, and being prone to perfectionism, I have
really had to get my head together on this one.
Although perfectionism is admired, much like Heston’s
wizardry, it can also have the adverse effect of putting people off from even
picking up a ladle in the kitchen for a fear of anything they do will not be
good enough. Yet, we value good cooking, because the pay off is so rewarding.
In church terms, the leader is not there to be the
master chef. That title belongs to Jesus.Our Bibles all say he is the only perfect one that has
ever lived. Perfectionism implies that
weakness or deficiency is not allowed. So perhaps the ism in perfectionism needs to be tackled as a condition
or disease.
To be in search of the perfect is not bad, as we all aspire to
be better people, but to claim we have got it perhaps is another thing.
The problem is we can find it hard to see anyone who can do the job as well or
better. Our defence against this condition is to continually humble ourselves before the Perfect One. By default, our own unworthiness will appear and pride will dissipate.
The job of any leader is to encourage new Christians to feel that anyone can do what we can do.
That means lowering the bar so everyone can jump over.
Otherwise, how will we ever grow our churches? The Anglican Church talks famously about
the "priesthood of all believers". In the Vineyard we say "everybody gets to play!" It all the means the same. Like food, ministry needs to be democratised
and not made to be an elite activity.
Something to chew over.
ASD
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