Passion Remix

"Where has our passion gone?

The elderly Salvationist leaned back on the chair he was sitting on, looked into my eyes, and I could see the expression of pain on his face was genuine. I asked him, what do you mean? He Lowered his eyes, now filled with tears, and with a slight shake of the head whispered his response. "There was a time when all we could think of was reaching people. All we did was for the master and we would try to reach anybody, anybody who was in need, no matter who they were and where they came from. Now all we seem to think about is how we look, whether we are on time or not, how many meetings we attend, how many people attend those meetings determines whether we are a "big corps" or not. Where has the passion gone?

He had a genuine dejected look on his old weathered face, a face that had seen much over the years, and if his skin could speak, could probably reel off a million stories.

Where has the passion gone?

I was speaking to this old Salvationist after a meeting I had attended just a few weeks ago.

Driving home in the car from this event, those words kept repeating themselves in my head.

This faithful old guy had a point.

He was reflecting something wise, something Godly, something prophetic. Something we probably would rather not talk about.

But hey, let's do it anyway?

Passion is a seriously strong word. It's a word applied to people who show unbridled fervour towards something they believe in.

As I thought about what he had said, I could kind of see that there was passion, but it could it be possible that it gets directed towards the wrong fight? I know that I've been guilty of that in the past for sure.

Instead of the fight for souls, maybe it gets directed to the fight to keep the rules and the regulations and the religion that restricts movement and kingdom progression. The kind of religion that drove Jesus scatty!

People can be passionate about that alright.

I'll never forget at my commissioning as a Salvation Army officer, hearing a Salvationist lady who had been at the commissioning service, at the end of the day saying that she couldn't concentrate because the uniform skirts that the female cadets had on were different lengths! And she thought that was unacceptable! And added that " A few of the women cadets had make up on!"

She was passionate about that alright.

Passionate that she would have liked to have seen perfectly straight skirts and shockingly pale ladies, because obviously that would really please God wouldn't it?
It's just absurd!

It's pure absurdity!

I reckon that kind of attitude, if we are honest, is maybe still fairly wide spread around all kinds of denominations. And of course there is a lot more to this attitude than what I mention here!

I suspect it may be a bit of a substitute?

Why do we so often let our passion become drawn to absurdity?

Is it because it is a safe haven in the middle of two important issues for the church?

One extreme is that we can get fearful of the glory of God. By that I mean we can become a bit nervous about God touching us? The other extreme is we can get fearful of engaging with the world.

The thing is if We deflect God's touch we will never be able to engage with the world in terms of standing up for Jesus in it.

So we can easily migrate to the middle ground, we can substitute passion for God with passion for the machine. The religion, the safety net of rules, commitment to the machine, we make sure we look right, we say the right things, we talk the right talk, we get the make up off ( well not me personally), we get the Daz out to make sure our shirts are brilliant white so no-one thinks we are slacking! We leave the Jewellery at home in case anyone thinks we are going astray!

We get passionate about it!

It's absurdity.

It's really really sad.

I'm not saying that people can't look smart or be the best they can be or anything like that, that's really not what I am saying.

Daz washed shirts are really amazing, and probably a blessing.

Neither am I using this as a "ban the uniform" advertisement. That's not the issue! Not the issue at all.

It's a passion issue.

Can you imagine if that kind of passion was directed towards a broken and confused world?

Imagine that instead of defending a pair of toe capped shoes we defended the person who has nothing, who is so poor materially or spiritually that they scream to us for help? For salvation?

Can you imagine if we directed our passion away from the middle ground out to the extremes? Firstly and most importantly to God. And we let him in. We let him touch us in whatever way that entails even if it seems alien to us?

Because when the Spirit of God touches a life, or a corps or a denomination or the whole of Christianity for that matter, passion happens!

SPIRITUAL PASSION HAPPENS!

Fervent, passionate, engagement with God that compels us to the broken. A passion that means that all we can think about is how we can increase the kingdom in our own lives and the lives of others.

When passion is directed towards the spiritual, transformation happens.

The kingdom happens!

We will look at the world as Jesus does.

No longer will we look at the world and live in fear of it.

We will want to reach out to it, feed it, clothe it, slake it's thirst.

This story I think will help what I'm saying.

It comes from Yevtushenko's autobiography.

He describes how in Moscow in 1941, the streets were lined with people, mostly women, waiting for a great parade of German prisoners. The atmosphere of hatred was palpable. Nearly every woman had lost a husband, father, brother or son, and now was their chance to desecrate the symbols of those who had killed their men. The Germans came into view, they were thin, unshaven, wearing dirty bloodstained bandages, hobbling on crutches or leaning on the shoulders of their comrades. The streets became dead silent. An old woman pushed through the crowd, past the police cordon and, taking something from her coat, pushed it into the pocket of an exhausted soldier. It was a crust of black bread. And now suddenly from every side women were running towards the soldiers, pushing into their hands bread, cigarettes, whatever they had. The soldiers were no longer enemies. They were people.

When they saw the need, they forgot they were enemies and were compelled to reach out to them.

While we are angry sticking to the middle ground, defending it, boxing ourselves into it with a passion, it's usually because of fear. Then we are in trouble because we cannot move, we become immobilised. If these women had boxed themselves in to the passion they had for hatred for those who had killed their loved ones, they would never have reached out to them.

More than that, we loose sight of the one true hope for the world.

Jesus Christ.

This is seen in this scripture.

His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.
And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it;
but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49 NKJV)

The thing is here, Jesus parents would have gone on this trek, this pilgrimage, every year. They did what they had always done.

But they had there eyes so fixed on the tradition, they were so immersed in the middle ground that something inevitable happened.

They lost sight of the son.

And he, as he reminded them was about his fathers business.

Jesus had a passion for his fathers business.

We can so easily keep our eyes fixed on what we've always done, what we think is the right ways of doing things.

We can direct our passion towards what we've always done.

But Maybe we should be passionate about our fathers business.

Kingdom business, transformation of this world type of business!

Where has the passion gone?

Maybe it's the wrong question.

Maybe the question is, where is our passion being directed?

Massive God-favour on you today!