Life-On-Life Love
We had such a wonderful Grad Sunday last week, honoring and celebrating graduates from every level at High Street, and catching a vision of God’s momentum in our ministries!
Did you know there are over 27 different definitions for “spirituality”? (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality)
Consider, why is it that this word that so many in Santa Cruz use to explain faith, health, values, and even businesses, can mean so many different things?
Early in our Messy Spirituality series we learned that Christians share the same deep desires as those seeking various spiritualities: across the board, we’re all looking for inner peace, hope and healing.
What is it in Christian Spirituality that sets us apart from other spiritualities?
For one thing, in Christian spirituality alone do we see that the mess within us is central for a real, saving relationship with Jesus.
We admit that nothing else “works” but Him. And usually this means we’re at the end of ourselves.
Most of us come to Jesus because of our “mess.”
And we begin to see that Jesus, yes, saves us from the mess of our sins, but He also continues to save us through our messes, too.
It’s in messy places where we can experience Jesus’ love made real. And His love is often expressed in the ordinary, life-on-life love of those around us.
“[Christian] Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection. The way of the [Christian] life begins where we are now in the mess of our lives. Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the beginning of [our] spirituality not because the spiritual life will remove our flaws but because we let go of seeking perfection and, instead, seek God, the one who is present in the tangledness of our lives.” - Mike Yakonelli
In other words, the messy spirituality of our Christian journey is the strongest point of connection to the messy spiritualities around us, Christian and non-Christian alike.
We’ll be diving deep into what this transformative journey looks like these next few weeks as we continue our Messy Spirituality series. Look forward to consider what was “Jesus’ Spirituality”!
See you Sunday!
Pastor Dave