Good newsletter from the Pastor of our old church in Vero...
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE MESSY
Luke 2:7 She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.
What do I mean by “messy?” It’s the word I think can best describe my spirituality. I grew up in a church culture where spiritual meant, religious, right, pure, clean, holy, serious, republican, dressed well, short hair, no sin. It didn’t take long for me to figure out that in that culture I was not counted as very spiritual. I could try for awhile to look the look and talk the talk, but walking the walk was very weary and very inconsistent.
Don’t get me wrong, my passion and love for Jesus has always been strong. It’s just that inside I am really pretty messy, and that messiness shows up on the outside way more often than I like to admit.
I once thought that the older I got, the further I would move from this messiness. Honestly, it’s been just the opposite. The older I get the more I realize just how incomplete and imperfect I am. Can I get a witness?
This past Christmas gave me a fresh sense of what spiritual is. As we celebrated our Christmas Eve service together and shared in communion, I got it…again. There was the Christ child. Holy, divine, perfect. In the middle of a mess. Cow, sheep and donkey dung. Smells. Unwelcome noise. A rather ugly place for the Son of God to choose to come into. And He is still doing it today. The incarnation (taking up residence) in messy places like my life. The pure and beautiful, and the confused and messy.
I am starting 2008 with a re-focused mind. Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not about perfection; it’s about connection. Spirituality is not about being “fixed;” it is about God’s being presnt in the mess of our unfixedness.
May the realization of the divine presence of God catch you off-guard today. May the realization of God’s consistent love for imperfect people impact how you relate to Him and to others today.
Thank you Lord that you use our messiness as the workshop of authentic spirituality and the greenhouse of faith. And that as You do this, the real You meets the real us.
Just as I am without one plea but that
Thy blood was shed for me
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee
Oh lamb of God I come I come.
We have been given 86,400 seconds this day. How shall we spend it?
2 comments:
This is a beautiful post. Very inspiring as usual!! Have a Blessed Day :0)
not perfect, but connected - GREAT! The lack of connection is part of my blue funk during holidays. I get lazy and don't stay connected.
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