What matters most

The message today at church was particularly challenging in light of an all too familiar passage of scripture that has been used probably throughout all Christianity in order to convert to the faith. It got me thinking about our “aliveness”. When we read the passage, we must not forget that it was written not to unbelievers but to a church that had become lukewarm.

I agree with the message about how it is easier to work with someone who is spiritually “cold”, because they care enough to disagree; versus someone who is a “lukewarm”, apathetic, quasi-Christian. Even more so is the fact that God prefers us to be either hot or cold.

There is an affirmation response that we used at the A Place Apart retreat last year that really captured the kind of aliveness that God seeks for our lives:

This is what matters most now
To know the one who died and came to life
To walk in the way that he walked
To love in the way that he loved
To come alive
To be alive
Now and forever*

Last May, I posted a series of reflections on the heels and after the A Place Apart weekend about our atrophied spirits and what it means to be alive. I was so moved by the experience that I ended up renaming my blog from Liminal Space to Quest for Life. I believe I am really starting to uncover in my own life the ways that my spirit has become atrophied. My quest for life has been shared with you about the places that I fell most alive. I hope that we can all benefit from such a quest rather than our persistent state of narcolepsy.

Reread the Revelation text and sit with the imagery of what it means to have passion in your life and who may be drawing that passion out of your present “mummified” state.

Hot?
Cold?
Lukewarm?

Your life?
The church?
America?

Where are you and where are we going?

*From the A Place Apart Training Manual, pg. 82