End Veneer

Sometimes a book impacts us by introducing something new–ideas, facts, information, thoughts.  The impact is in the novelty or newness, and we’re changed.

Other times a book impacts us because somebody says exactly what’s in our hearts but could never put into words.

I recently read a great book that did just that. It’s called Veneer.

Veneer is about living deeply in a surface society. I read it cover to cover hardly coming up for air, and told Jeff, “I’m not sure if I love the book so much because it challenges me or simply because it says all the things I’d like to say but have never known quite how.”  With grace, humility, wit, and intelligence, Tim Willard and Jason Locy share history, facts, and cultural critique with the aim of a sharp-shooter. And they point at themselves first.

They point out the fact that historically people purchased items for functionality, need, and pleasure. But in the 1500s Queen Elizabeth I recognized the need for a unifying force for her country and decided that she would become that force, so she recreated herself as an icon, a godlike figure that a nation could love and cherish.

In order to do this she lavishly spent, ridiculously spent in order to create an awe and splendor always about her that gave her the aura of a goddess. Naturally, the effect trickled down. The noblemen began that same sort of spending, as she set the standard for nobility all those around her began to follow suit in order to keep up with the social competition within the court.

Trickle, trickle, trickle. We’re doing it today.Though not a single one of us are nobility we still act like we have to survive the social competition of the court. And without realizing it, we have come to actually believe that we are defined by what we buy. By what we consume.  Our identity is inextricably linked with what we buy because it tells the world who we are.

And sadly, many of us are still desperately trying to tell the world, we’re cool. We belong. We fit in. We belong to nobility. And marketers know this. So billions of dollars are spent to ensure that their product is the one that’s cool. People who know nothing about technology know that a Mac is cooler than a PC, an iphone is cooler than a Blackberry. Diesel jeans are cooler than Levis. A Coach bag sends a message, does it not?  Our clothes, our technology, our car, our facebook profile–we can use everything to create a veneer: A thin, cheap, artificial covering for the real stuff beneath.  The real stuff of scars and imperfections.

The real stuff that’s beautiful.

But the tragedy is that we’ve believed the lie that it isn’t beautiful.  That we aren’t beautiful.

But Christ died to redeem our real selves, He accepts our real selves, for goodness sake He created our real selves.

In His glorious resurrected body Christ holds out his hands and shows:

Scars.

We need not be afraid to do the same.

What if, like beautiful antique wood we saw our scars as beauty marks. Signs of redemption. Signs of grace, authenticity, life.

Not saying this call to end veneer is easy, but I love what Willard and Locy have to say.

Take a minute and check out the EndVeneer video here. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks again for reading.