Fat Souls Friday

“There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people.” – G.K. Chesterton

This Friday is our inaugural Fat Souls for 2018.  What is Fat Souls? Let me begin by saying it is easier to experience than it is to explain.  In fact, mere explanation would defeat the purpose, but I will try anyway.

Fat Souls embraces being worldly Christians.  That may sound counterproductive at best, sinister at worst, but hear me out.  We believe in a God who creates. We also believe in a God who called all that He made good.  Creation is. Creation is good. So how are we to engage with the creation? Should we avoid it, thinking that it is somehow dangerous or evil?  Should we ignore it, as if it is somehow inconsequential in comparison to deeper unseen things? When we look around and see a world brimming with beauty, bursting with sounds and smells, and holding forth gifts both modest and mysterious, what is our duty?  What is the proper response to gifts, especially when the gift is good? We should, at the very least, enjoy it. Our duty is delight. Therefore, at Fat Souls, we consider God’s wonders in hopes of growing our delight. Wonders like cheese and big men who like cheese enough to try lots of it, like Chesterton.  The magic of yeast, and the miracles it creates like turning water into wine. We talk about jokes, which is kind of funny, and we tell jokes which usually aren’t that funny. We see and hear and taste good things, all in the name of a good time, as an apology for the goodness of creation, without apology.

Fat Souls is also a recovery group. “Recovery from what?” you ask.  Not the wine listed above mind you, more like a recovery from a bad shock or a bad dream.  As modern suburbanites, we are constantly lied to about who we are, where we are going, what things really mean and how joy is made. Fat Souls is an opportunity to be told the truth again, and Lord willing, to taste it too: The truth that all is gift, that creation is good (both weird and wonderful), that stories matter, that, in light of our size and our place in the story, we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously while, at the same time, taking things like leisure and jokes deadly serious.  That we are not cogs in a cosmic machine rolling to nowhere, but we are human beings placed into a world that is made by a greater Being, and everywhere you look this One, who is good and true and beautiful, has spoken and thus is speaking.  And his words are worth hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and touching.

Finally, Fat Souls is as an embodied “thank you.” As Christians, not only do we believe all creation is a gift, but salvation as well.  We believe in a Gospel of unfiltered, 150 proof grace, so lavish it looks scandalous to the casual observer and appears even more irresponsible to the recipients of it.  Jesus has done it all, from top to bottom, beginning to end. Therefore, we are free. Free to laugh, to sing, to love people and things. After all, what is gratitude if not receiving and enjoying the gift.  The best “thank you” is to laugh at the joke, savor the sip, play with the toy and dance until the party ends. “Give thanks in everything,” the Bible says, which means anything can be made a source of praise. Fat Souls is both a temptation toward and an outlet for this sort of gratitude.

Still confused?  That is fine, so are we.  So come join us this Friday to taste and see that the Lord is good, and, if things go right, the tasting might help clear up some of our thinking.    

When:   Friday, June 22nd , at 7 p.m.  

Where:  The Chase Home

Topic:    Work: Man Can Not Live For the Weekend Alone

What:    Attendees should bring the following

• One food item that is a “labor of love”
• A libation to share (wine, beer, other)
• A lawn chair or blanket

We would love you to join us (please feel free to invite folks that you feel would enjoy this).

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – G.K. Chesterton