The first year that Starbucks offered their famous Pumpkin Spice Latte, I probably had ten of them in the first week. So delighted I was with the sugary jolt of liquid autumn, it was love at first sip. And I’m not unlike so many other Americans who took to the flavor so fervently, it spurred countless copy cats and it seemed liked there soon was a pumpkin spiced anything you could ever want.
I got to thinking more about this and began to think about it in a spiritual context, using the “me-too” scenarios as an example for common church and ministry models. I couldn’t quite gel it until I watched this video from Rachel Marie Stone. In the video, she attempts to explain the appeal of America’s favorite fall flavor.
In scripture, scent is important. Prayers are characterized as “beautiful scents” and Christians are told to “spread the aroma of Christ” wherever they go.
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, – 2 Corinthians 2:15
The production of incense involves the mashing up of several ingredients and combining it with a bit of water to make a clay-like consistency that hardens so it can be burned to spread the fragrance. The apostles, then were as the incense. They too were crushed and burned, yet diffusing a waft of perfume everywhere they journeyed.
Pumpkin spice takes us back.
However, there is danger in looking back at the past with fond reflections and not giving consideration to the complex realities of that past. Stated another way; we have a tendency to look back and accent only the good or favorable while ignoring what is less than favorable. We might even get a distorted version of history as we do that.
A Difficult Balancing Act: Pumpkin Spice or No Pumpkin Spice
Our past helps us prepare for the next seasons in our lives. Remembering our past through scent actually directs our gaze and thoughts forward in anticipation, even to our future in heaven. Our spiritual lives must know, acknowledge and learn from our past.
We must revere our past – specifically God’s creation and Christ’s redeeming work.
Yet, it’s never fully about the past. God is our God past, present and future. Pumpkin spice treats us both to our nostalgic past, our present day and a look forward with hope.
Making Pumpkin Spice Eternal
What originally got me to thinking about this post was the way many Christian ministry models or approaches take to mimicking what is prevelant in popular culture. This is most obvious in the music industry. It’s painfully obvious when a Christian artist is blatantly trying to appeal to an audience by looking and/or sounding like a Billboard chart topper.
Nowhere have I seen this so well satirized than the South Park episode (season 7, episode 9) in which Cartman makes a bet that he will have a platinum-selling album before Kyle’s band does. Cartman deploys a strategy of taking generic popular love ballads and changing earthly references to being Jesus-centered. For instance, “Three Times a Lady” is transformed to “Three Times My Savior.”
We must revere our past – specifically God’s creation and Christ’s redeeming work. It’s okay for use to pumpkin spice things up, so long as we are mindful that it’s merely a flavor and temporal in nature. God’s word is no mere flavor.
The Pumpkin Spice Scent of Nostalgia
The pumpkin spice flavor is strong, warm and inviting. It sort of feels like a family gathering. A connection with loved ones. One of nostalgia. Stone teaches us that nostalgia, especially when linked to scent, feels like it connects us to something in the past.Cartman’s band sells their million copies but then learns that Christian artists don’t present platinum awards. They instead present gold, frankincense and myrrh records. Therefore, even though Cartman’s groups sold more than a million copies, they can never claim a Platinum-selling record.
Yes, this is somewhat far-fetched satire that parodies Christian music (among other topics), but there are some valid take-a-ways. First, Christians and the Christian message have a universal appeal among a world that craves it. Second, Christians may live among the citizens of this world, but we are not judged by the same standards. And finally, while we might extend our reach to a culture by looking a part that resonates, we must remain mindful of what is temporal and what is eternal.
In a world that consumes so much that it exhausts itself of desire, something new always enters to take its place. For instance, Pumpkin Spice seems like an industry all its own. But does anyone else see the emerging popularity of Salted Caramel? Anyone notice that Egg Nog or “Candy Cane” flavored everything start to stock the supermarket shelves around Christmas time?
These flavors are seasonal, appealing to the masses at exactly the right time so the reception is as strong as possible. We Christians are wise to mimic the flavor… to “pumpkin spice” things up, so long as we remember that flavors are injected merely for reach.
God’s word, though, is no mere flavor. God’s word is natural, life sustaining and most importantly, eternal.