The following is an excerpt from an interview of Ken Meyers by Walter Henegar. For the full interview go to By Faith magazine Summer 2009 edition.

Q: Evangelicals today are often preoccupied with novelty: new strategies, new ministry models, new insights for successful Christian living. How do you address this?

A: C.S. Lewis said one of the distinctive aspects of the modern mind is the assumption that newer things are always better. We've become preoccupied with things we don't have rather than nurturing and stewarding the things we do have. My favorite example of this is the shift since the 1970s toward informality in public. People used to wear coats and ties to go to a baseball game, and now they wear a ball cap at church. We've moved away from formality toward informality in almost every area - language, dance, food, worship, music - and I'm convinced that it's largely a suspicion of authority. You don't want to submit to a set of standards and proprieties that you didn't freely choose. So, if the move toward informality expresses a widespread suspicion of authority, then why would that be a good, up-to-the-minute trend to endorse? Wendell Berry says we need to attend to the intrinsic meaning of things: "What is needed is a work of durable value; the time or age of it matters only after the value of it has been established." So, it's the value of the thing itself, not whether or not it's contemporary. Of course, it's good to be aware of the shape of what is contemporary, but that's no reason to give it the benefit of the doubt.

When we are young, we generally are not very concerned about our livers. This is an odd statement to make, but my liver has been on my mind lately. As we age, our livers naturally shrivel and don't function as in our youth. And, as we age, we oftentimes find ourselves taking more prescription medications which can be quite taxing on our livers. Last week, I filled my sixth regular Rx and, for me, that was the wake up call for me. I began to ponder how many chemicals and toxins my body is exposed to daily. It's time for a change. Obviously, I can't just stop taking blood pressure medications without the possibility of severe consequences, but I can start making changes in my lifestyle that will one day enable me to stop taking most of my prescriptions. But, it's not just the chemicals I'm putting into my body; it's the ones that I inhale or my body absorbs. Cleaning and laundering supplies are obviously full of harmful chemicals, but so are make-up and nail polishes and lotions. What about our food supply? How much of it is tainted with pesticides or growth hormones or antibiotics? Even our water supply is tainted. Before we all panic and move to some primitive country, there are some small changes that we can start with that can help preserve our livers and maybe help out our pocketbooks.

This week I'm starting with cleaning supplies. There are many recipes on the Internet for making your own cleaners that are non-toxic, inexpensive, and effective. Here's the recipe I chose for my all purpose cleaner in a spray bottle:

one part vinegar
three parts water
10 - 15 drops of lavender


If you have a favorite, please share it with me.