I think I might be a chef. I like cooking shows. Actually I like cooking shows better than I like to cook. I have opinions on most of the stars of the food network, and small crushes on two of them. I am an adequate cook, and on special occasions I tend to show off a bit, but I do not on any regular occasion whip up a gourmet meal, or any real meal for that matter. I just nuke some left over meat, toss a salad and call it dinner.I am certain over the past ten years I have logged a couple of hundred hours watching someone else prepare fabulous food. I am familiar with many cooking styles and techniques, from Cajun to continental, braising to broiling. It is possible that somewhere in the dark regions of my brain I have the ability to create exotic dishes, I know I have watched hundreds being prepared, but invariably I stare into the fridge and fix the same 5 dishes every time.I have just taken a break to eat breakfast, I am in the mountains so some survival instinct is triggered and I consume 6 times the necessary calories in case of flood or blizzard or something, and fixed pancakes. I know I have seen multiple episodes on the proper balance of flour, salt, soda, etc. I know the dangers of over stimulating the glutens and producing tough pancakes. I know this, but still I reach for the box that requires nothing more than water. If you can pour water, you can make these pancakes.

Here is my observation: I am fixed on watching someone else prepare food using ingredients I cannot find , with pots, knifes and gadgets I could never afford, in a kitchen that is larger than most of the entire homes I have ever lived in. Does watching someone else do what I feel inadequate to do, count as doing it? Am I chef because I like to watch chefs?

You may draw your own analogies, but I think there is something eerily similar to what we call being a Christian. As a faith culture we tend to primarily watch. I think if you were to analyze the most frequent activity of people wanting to be Christian, it would be watching. Watching someone else, who seems to have tools and spiritual gadgets I have never heard of, tell me how to live. How is it that in spite of all Jesus said about giving, loving, feeding, clothing, visiting, that we squandered the vast amount of our money on buildings? And have you noticed the buildings are not becoming smaller or more simple? Why? Because it allows us the best opportunity to do what we have come to believe will make us Christian–watching. We watch singing and call it worship, but that is just the set up, the appetizer, to the main dish, preaching. (I realize this is more descriptive of the evangelical church, especially those that emphasize Bible teaching versus liturgy). Ok, find me a time when Jesus said that listening to sermons was the most important thing you could do, and therefore justify the billions of dollars to accommodate that?

Watching cooking shows does not make you a chef, watching church does not make you Christian. What are your thoughts?