"If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." -Antoine De Saint
Spoken from a true pilot, adventurer, and writer. I share his blood. When a friend of mine sent me this quote, I immediately began reflecting on how closely we resemble his words. Is it not a fitting description of our attitudes? We have become aware of a relationship with God but we've for some reason or another traded in the passionate, 'Sacred Romance' of a relationship for a caffeine-free, reheated-yet-still-lukewarm cup of Foldgers in the form of a dutiful, obligated religion. While I'm sure we may want people to have a relationship with God, I'm not sure our actions are helping. Do we want to convince people to build a boat, or do we want them to yearn for the endless sea? Do we want people to "get saved," start going to church, tithing, and serving as a greeter every Sunday? Or do we want them to yearn for Sacred Romance found in a passionate, intimate love relationship with the true living God, to be free, to experience oneness with God and with His family? Do we invite them to experience what it means to be truly alive and free because God rescued us from our darkness so we could once and for all truly live?
We're getting really efficient at 'building the boat' in the Church. And sadly, there are many in churches who are secretly growing tired of building the boat. The question is, how long will people put up with the arduous task of piecing together a boat? It's time for a re-awakening, for someone to speak to our dying hearts and teach us to yearn for the "endless immensity of the sea." Maybe then that boat building task will then happen all on its own as we together take up the quest in pursuit of our destiny.
This has been a powerful reminder me for me in my quest for the God of the Bible (The Story). Yearn. Long. Teach humanity to yearn for the most dazzling of all romances: When God woos the heart of man. It is an adventure God has set in our hearts. We realize it in our deepest pains and happiest joys. But, will it motivate us to yearn for the intimacy God offers?
1 comment:
This is just awesome and inspiring!! I'm so keen to give people the passion I've found for Christ... rather than a reason to come to church!! :) That's what's gonna change lives!! Thanks for this one!!! really changes the way I look at sharing my faith with outhers!! :)
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