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THE QUEST FOR GOD

We are on a quest that is much more than seeking a destination. Jesus is clear, “Follow me.” That invitation is to a journey much more than a specific location. There is a long tradition of seeking within Christian history. The tragedy is when we become so busy with very good things that we become uncertain of Christ’s voice or it is drowned out by the noisy-ness of our lives.

Intimacy with Christ nourishes our vocation. When intimacy is lost, our lives tend to become shallow, the emotional and spiritual gauges of our life indicate a serious warning to us as we become increasingly perplexed, strained, fearful or perfunctory. Our physical response seems to relay what is happening spiritually, mentally and emotionally. Physicians and medical researchers tell us that nearing burnout leaves us with physical depletion that may be revealed through a variety of physical ailments. Even the mental sharpness we once enjoyed becomes routine and spiritual gamesmanship replaces our authentic passionate ministry. Like a boxer who has taken too many punches, we go through the motions but our systems are shutting down.

Protestantism like a transition through adolescence contemptuously discarded many of the forms that shaped our context. In the eagerness to embrace our new freedom, we labeled the habits of the past as dangerous or even threatening. We distanced ourselves from them. Five hundred years later, we realize amidst the ruins of a tragedy of our own making that our souls ache for something familiar. We have an uneasy sense of loss. It is an ancient calling not unlike the desire for roots by grandchildren of slaves. We realize we cannot return home for home has changed. But there is a deeply embedded desire from within our starved souls that inextricably draws us back to revisit ancient practices that nourished the souls of past generations. The legacy of our adolescent denial has slowly starved our souls and left us needing something to guide us into the future. What are these ancient practices that might help us face the challenges of our future? As we work with today’s youth, we need leaders who can carefully reconnect with the practices of the past that sustained Christ followers as well as helping this generation find new contextually appropriate forms that will provide vitality and direction into a very uncertain future.

While Protestants experienced an adolescent developmental history, an increasing number of Catholic and Orthodox adherents were seeking for something more life-giving than form. Sometimes this has led to a radical discarding of traditions; but often it has led to a renewed appreciation and a revitalized contextualization of these ancient practices. All the history of these great streams of the church seems to intersect at a crossroads in a search for God. The genius of the postmodern experience is that the road of exhausted Protestants wearied in a search for something ancient and the renewed embracing of the rich meaning found in ancient practices by Catholics and Orthodox believers provides an opportunity to meet at the crossroads of our faith and dialogue at a level that can be life-giving.

Our inward voices are calling us back to something significant and formative. Intuitively, we understand it is not found in another self-help effort focused on instantaneous gratification. We long for something of more significance and lasting value. We have lived through the spiritual cycle of enthusiasm, obligation, guilt, repentance and then a return to wandering! Will that wandering lead into the slough of despair or to a pilgrimage similar to the ancient travels of Abraham and Sarah? This mystical, mysterious journey seems to have few guarantees except that cryptic promise of God that there is a land “I will show to you.” (Genesis 12:1) The liberation experienced in an exploration with an uncertain destination seems odd in a world of goals, purposes, objectives that honors instant achievement. But there is a genuine freedom that comes from such passionate journeys that is difficult to articulate, let alone understand.

Early New Testament writers such as Paul use athletic imagery in the text. As we study the metaphor of preparing for and running the race, we realize that merely knowing more about the athletic event is not completely helpful because knowledge; however it is acquired, does not place us in the game. We will need to practice, get in shape, understand the nuances of the game/event and practice those skills that will serve us well in life.

I am writing this during the Winter Olympics. The athletes are fascinating. They have put in long hours of preparation, studied tapes, watched other competitors, but also practiced, practiced and practiced beyond other athletes. Ultimately, they must become champions in their own right to even be invited to the Olympics. Then they must enter the race, qualify once again and finally, put all of that preparation to action to celebrate victory. I believe that this spiritual race requires three levels of skills that will help us enjoy the celebration of victory. I believe those skills involve knowing, doing and being. All of those skills are dependent upon the presence of the living God in our lives and are keys to our spiritual formation. None of them guarantee the work of the Lord. But all of them provide and prepare a place for God to be known in a deeper more intimate way in our lives.

The call for intimacy echoes through the empty hallways of our souls looking for a relationship with our God. This very relational, Trinitarian God created us in an image that calls for relationship. This longing needs to be satisfied or seekers from this generation like stories of old will find other gods to serve. As Christian educators, we are challenged to follow in the footsteps of leaders like Moses and journey with our students back to the sacred place of God. We are called to initiate contextually appropriate new forms while restoring the ancient practices in a way that serves God today and prepares students for the future.

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