Jon Acuff's "Stuff Christians Like"

There’s no question that evangelical Christians, across both denominational and non-denominational, have a “culture.” But you don’t consider how that culture can manifest itself until you read something like Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff.

Based on the posts on his blog of the same name, Stuff Christians Like examines through the lens of the humor microscope how Christians pray, worship, witness, read their Bibles, go on missions trips, think about God, think about each other, think about non-believers, learn if other believers drink alcohol (or not), dance appropriately, do baptisms and a host of other “cultural” practices.

Acuff does not skewer or lacerate his subjects (after all, he’s one of them himself). But he does point out the things that Christians do that stereotype themselves, like using the word “just” in every prayer, as in, “Lord, we just ask you for…” or look for typos in the worship songs on the jumbo-trons (for those of us who don’t use hymnals and have churches big enough to use jumbo-trons to display worship songs) or the seven types of people you meet in a prayer circle.

His purpose isn’t to ridicule. Without his underlying fondness, sympathy and love for the people he’s talking about, in all the crazy ways they practice their faith, this would have been an “edgier” and more biting collection, of short articles, long articles, and cartoons. Instead, the humor leads you into more serious thought about how much of this could be about yourself. Acuff’s final section, with the title of “Saturday Night Cryfest,” particularly does that.

I smiled. I laughed. I cringed. I got embarrassed. Because what he writes is true.

I may never be the same again. I’m certainly going to be aware of my tendency to use the word “just” in a prayer.

Email Surprise

Tonight, I received an email from a poet. She'd read my "Sunday Morning Rain," and was inspired to write this. It caught me with all my message points and cue cards down. I truly don't know how to respond, or respond adequately. And what a beautiful thing she had done -- and written.

So where did "Sunday Morning Rain" come from?

I woke early yesterday, earlier than I had to, and was sitting in my office reading from the book of Proverbs. I’ve been participating in a group reading of Proverbs on Twitter, where each day you tweet a verse, something that strikes you, or how something speaks to you (check #SCLPRO for all the various tweets). It was started by Jon Acuff over at the Stuff Christians Like blog, and he’s got a book in the works that sounds like great fun. As I was reading, I gradually became aware of the rain striking the gutters and rattling around the downspout that’s right outside my window. I listened and read, and then the thoughts, images, phrases and words started crowding in. I knew a poem was trying to be born. I reached for the pad I usually draft poems on and began to write.

The thought occurred that I couldn't recall a single example of rain happening in the gospels. I checked the concordance, and sure enough, there are only two references, both in the Gospel of Matthew and both in parables. I pondered that for a bit, and thought about synonyms for rain. And then the idea of "tears" went on like a light bulb. And the only reference to Jesus' tears is in the Gospel of John, as he stood at the tomb of Lazarus.

I worked the draft over several times; the last line was one of those abrupt things that just happened, and it changed the entire poem. I stared at it, started to edit and rework it, and then stopped. No, I thought, this is what it's meant to be.

I've had online friends mightily encouraging me in my "poetry doodling," as L.L. Barkat calls it. My wife encourages me, too, even when she knows a lot of the poems are about her. She's a private person and isn't totally comfortable with all of my online writing. But she encourages me anyway.

Check out Maureen's poems at Writing Without Paper. She's good.