Volume 28, No. 36
September 28, 2003
                   
Know-Name Brands

   You recognize their names.  You use their stuff.  But how much do you know about these food product pioneers?

   In 1858, John Landis Mason and some glassblowers found a way to preserve fruits and vegetables without using the traditional metal cans that left food with a tinny taste.  His glass containers with the screw-top lid protected flavour and let housewives see the contents at a glance, plus they were easy to rinse and reuse.  Since then, more than a hundred billion Mason jars have been sold.

   By 1899, James Drummond Dole was enjoying the fruits of his labour, too.  Intent on selling pineapples for export, he persuaded his cousin —the governor of Hawaii — to help him get some land.  Dole then came up with the radical idea of preserving the highly-perishable  pineapple in tin cans for shipment around the world.  The fruit was shoved through a small slot in the top of each can before the container was sealed with a bead of solder.  More than a hundred years later,the Dole company is still a world leader.

   So is the firm started by Frank Gerber.  In 1928, the Michigan businessman’s seven-month-old granddaughter, Sally, got seriously ill.  Her doctor suggested a diet of strained fruits and vegetables, so Gerber made some changes at his tomato-canning factory.  When Sally recovered,mothers in the area started asking for samples of the new food. Six months after putting the product on the market, it was available across the country and the baby food industry was born.

   Gerber growth was phenomenal until the product hit Africa.  Since so many people there can’t read or write, containers almost always carry a picture of what’s inside.  The drawing of the Gerber baby on each jar created a great deal of concern and confusion!
 
  The point is, almost everything around us was inspired by a dream, need or opportunity seized by a real human being.  When we know about their personal involvement, it lends meaning, interest and understanding to what would otherwise be a cold, sterile, institutional story. Seems to me, that’s the problem with Christianity these days.
 
  Too often, we try to share our faith on the basis of its many benefits without connecting that faith to the Person behind it.  Christ is no longer at the heart of Christianity in many churches.  Instead, believers stress the blessings of belonging and the gifts that come with godliness.  Those advantages are real, and relevant, but the essence of Christianity can never be fully understood or appreciated when separated from its Founder.

   To find meaning and any real power in our faith, we must understand who Jesus was, what He was like and what made him tick, then find the individual connection between him and us.  When Christianity is no longer the personal story of a passionate Saviour who loves us, it’s just another of those cold, sterile, institutional stories.  People don’t need the product of Jesus.  They need the Person of Jesus.

   What we must stress to those around us is the very human tale of a Man who selflessly gave his life for struggling people like you and me who otherwise would’ve been separated from God forever by sin and failure.  Jesus is the key.  “May God bless you with his special favour and wonderful peace,” writes Peter, “as you come to know Jesus our God and Lord, better and better.  As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need to live a godly life.” (2 Peter 1:2,3)  You can’t know that power until you know that Person.

   And the intimate connection doesn’t stop there.  Once we know Jesus, instead of just knowing about him, we can offer our own testimonial.  When the demon-possessed man healed by Jesus wanted to go with him, the Lord said, “No, go home to your friends, and tell them what wonderful things the Lord has done for you and how merciful He’s been.” (Mark 5:19).  Just as he was to go and tell his story  about his encounter with Christ, so are we.  Otherwise, people probably won’t be interested.

   Nothing personal — just like your faith.

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe, contact sgamble@bfree.on.ca