Each of us is the owner of a random collection of theologies, doctrines, and superstitions. It’s a junk drawer of religious ideas and influences. It’s the witticisms your grandmother tossed around with ease that sounded like they came from a religious text. It’s an insight gleaned about God from a half-heard sermon at a friend’s church. It’s the mental screenshot of a meme shared on social media. It’s the empowering idea you underlined in a book and wrote on a Post-it Note now forever affixed to your laptop.
These are the things stuffed in our spiritual junk drawers. And as with that stash of old phone chargers, empty pens, and half-used batteries sitting in your kitchen drawer, something in us says, “I might need this.”
And so we hold on. But should we?
For many this junk drawer spirituality has become burdensome. We are worn down by the religious experience it creates and frustrated by a collection of traditions and “truths” that fail to deliver on their many promises.
Find out more about St. Matthew Lutheran Church at www.stmatts.net
Junk Drawer Jesus by Matt Popovits
Amazon: https://a.co/d/3jaaveE
1517.org https://shop.1517.org/collections/coming-soon/products/9781956658491-junk-drawer-jesus
Tough Call by Matt Popovits
Seculosity by David Zahl
What Matters Most Podcast with Matt Popovits
https://open.spotify.com/show/42pQWZS0UirWPNDA8XNfYx?si=6d3fc013a340440c
Make It Simple Podcast with Matt Popovits and Rachel Ryder
https://open.spotify.com/show/5DgcGJkqIGLLsFKO2bcIWH?si=56604b27c81149e4