I was driving back from a meeting the other day and heard a CBC science piece on the business of smells. The science reporter had interviewed a researcher who comes up with the many and varied odours which are in the products we buy. He claims that developing a scent is a little like writing a piece of music. You have to begin with the concept and then do the things technically which will allow it to come into being. So, a scent such as Fresh Linen doesn't actually contain recently laundered sheets, but it needs to create that association in the brain. He hinted, too, that a cleaning product doesn't have to actually get things clean as long as it smells as though it will.
My twisted minister's brain connected this interesting piece with a number of emails from people seeking out the services of a church -- our St. Paul's church -- recently. Thanks to the internet and our website I get an increasing number of inquiries from people who begin "I'm not a member of your church, nor do I attend any church..." Some are rather blunt and even crass: "I want my kid done, how much does it cost?" Others are well worded and polite explorations of the possibility of a baptism or a wedding. I got one yesterday and had a pleasant exchange with a young woman whose first child was born recently. I tried my best to be polite, honest and inviting. And to let her know that a sacrament such as Christian baptism involves commitment. We'll see.
How do these connect? It struck me that many people today, most of them well-meaning and sincere-- want something that smells like church rather than the deeper connection of Christian community. Why go to the effort of hanging your spiritual laundry on the line when you can put a sheet in the dryer, or something to that effect.
The thing is, there is nothing like the real deal, and my role is to encourage authenticity in a relationships with God, not create faux scents.
Please don't haul me away just yet. Thoughts?
3 comments:
I heard that CBC item too and thought it was fascinating. But when I started to read your blog it didn't go in the direction I thought it was going to - interesting as that was. I thought, being a minister's kid and becoming a minister yourself and having a son headed into the ministry and being married to a minister's daughter that you were going to tell us about memories of churches you have attended based on their smell. You know how certain smells evoke memories. Country churches, damp church basements, brand new sanctuaries, dusty smells, various heating systems, the smell of evergreen at Christmas time, no incense in the United church but maybe scented candles, summer heat and so on.Just like school rooms, churches have a certain smell too and those smells bring to mind the many congregations large and small in which I have had the opportunity to worship over my lifetime.
I agree, there is nothing like the real thing. Keep encouraging those relationships with God.
I too find that smells bring back memories. Every time I visit the clinic in Oshawa I am reminded of my days in a university residence....it's the concrete cement thing.....
I am headed to bed shortly after a very long day and am anticipating the smell of my freshly made bed, with sheets that have been on the line all day!! Ahhh.......
That's great Shirley. Let's throw in the smell of a roast beef dinner and the slightly musty smell of a baptismal gown used by several generations while we're at it. We're probably agreed that we want folk to enjoy all of these scents.
Our "fresh linen" may have been calling to each other across the fence Nancy!
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