Do we worship because he is there with us or is the fact that he is there incidental? What would be different if we knew that he was? When we speak do we speak of Jesus or do we speak of the things of Jesus? When we pray do we commune with the person and power of God or just fire them off in the hope that someone (or even something) might hear them and chose to do something about it?
I'm not sure that I have any answers at the moment; simply the passion and desire that Jesus is entirely necessary, but the nagging suspicion that in practice he is simply a desirable accessory to our forms of religion.
My feeling is that you are - in essence - exhibiting not a frustration with how empty our services seem to be but how much more you feel is possible. I too feel this often. I think it's a good sign.
ReplyDeleteI think what prompts this sort of itching irritation is the taste of something more than what we've so far experienced. Or maybe something that we experienced a while back but has since disappeared. Whichever way you look at it, the thing is that it's returned to your radar and you're thirsty for more.
The strong way you put your point is an indication to me that you are fed up with mediocrity, compromise and anything less than the glory and holiness of God manifest in our services. Good. So am I. Let's keep being frustrated that we haven't reached that point yet, and maybe - like Moses - someday we will.
The Holy Frustration, something I've known much of my Christian life and something that has driven me to (and in) leadership. Do we have a Biblical precedent(ce)? I don't wish to sound too conservative, I'm just asking for the first time. A
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