Myself, I’m a muesli man. Humpty likes to start the day with Marmite on toast. Perhaps he likes that sharper edge to things. But there’s no doubt about Marmite: we love it or loathe it. It is for this generation what the litmus test has been for a long line of generations anxious to know the difference between an acid and an alkali. It is divisive.
So, while Humpty munched away, I fell to thinking.
It is clear that this product has not made a name for itself by being all things to all men. It succeeds by being distinctive. Marmite is Marmite is Marmite. You’re either for it or against it. Which raises a question. Indeed, this may be Marmite’s gift to the world. It compels choice.
That is important. In this life we have to make choices. Some choices are more important than others. To be or not to be a Christian, for example. Whatever assumptions govern the world at large, surely Christians should have the stomach to be different, to question those assumptions and to paddle their own canoe? If being a Christian makes no discernible difference, what’s the point?
Ah, Humpty must have finished his toast. And I must have been thinking aloud. I heard him saying: ‘But St Paul writes: “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” Isn’t he arguing the opposite way from you? He says he is leaning over backwards to win over sceptics and opponents and we should do the same.’
I looked again at that quotation. I consulted a modern version to see how it was translated there. The verse Humpty is quoting (1 Corinthians 9.22 as it is in the CEV – Contemporary English Version) goes like this: ‘I do everything I can to win everyone I possibly can.’
I give Humpty credit for sticking to his guns. I think he’s right. We should be doing our utmost to understand the way sceptics and others look at the faith we profess. It’s a difficult – and risky – business to get into. We may find ourselves outnumbered or outgunned. But if we don’t make the effort, we shall find that we’re not being taken seriously by lots of our friends.
Humpty nodded in agreement. Sometimes he can show admirable restraint.
But what would Humpty think of Sainsbury’s yeast extract with reduced salt? It’s less of a stark choice between like and loathe, as with Marmite. I ask myself: what would St Paul have made of Marmite? It’s one of the world’s great unanswered questions.
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