Saturday, November 16, 2013

What It Is All About

In everything I do, I measure success by the degree to which I feel I am engaging in a relationship with God. God slowly, slowly permeates more and more of my life. When I'm dancing, I reflect on the way dance creates connection between people, and the way empty space plays such a vital role in thinking about what you are doing, and seeing that and knowing it, while feeling the pure joy of dancing, there are moments when I can feel myself draw closer to God. So much of dancing is about the interplay of rules and freedom, and about willing and letting go, it is a lot like faith. And so when I'm dancing I have moments that are truly religious experiences. When dance ceases to be like this, it ceases to be something of meaning in my life, at all.

When I meet a new person, and I fail to reach out to them and to try to relate, I feel I've missed out on the chance to talk to my Lord and my God yet again. When I learn a new fact, if it fails to fill me with the awe and wonder that can only come from the presence of the Holy Spirit, it means nothing. Life fully live is God lovingly embraced, and vice versa.

Martin Luther wanted to put Christ at the center of everything. Reading the Bible was NOT just reading some account of God telling us what we should be. It was an opportunity to touch the very presence of God in Christ Jesus. Isn't this what the Incarnation is all about? Any faith that puts anything, absolutely anything, above the simple and direct encounter with Christ Jesus is simply missing the point. Bibliolatry, which focuses on the words of the Bible rather than the Presence behind it, is an example of this sin.

When I eat good food, I try to remember to stop and think "God is sharing in this moment with me, God is tasting this as I taste it. As I savor it, I save it forever in the life of my Lord Jesus Christ." Every morsel of food eaten without this is not as tasty, not as zesty, and is ultimately all but wasted. What is life without God? Meaningless, pointless. It is not without zest and flavor, but this zest and flavor is over-powered by the tragedy that surrounds it. As the Upworthy video I posted points out, these moments invite us to eternity, but they turn out to be misdirections or lies once reflected upon, unless the invitation itself is fully taken hold of.

If we as Christians are honest, we'll admit that we don't take that invitation as often as we should, which is really every moment. I know I don't. But I'm trying, and I'm getting a little better at it every day. Life is so much better with it than without it. Why, then, do we turn aside from it so often?

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