Stopped the curb at the intersection of June and July, I can feel the summer gaining speed. Just up the road is another intersection, the one where Tyler and Houston cross. Looks like with a pending contract on our old house that we will make the final turn onto the Houston road at the end of July. And that'll be it. New ministry. New life. New road. But no matter where I find myself these days--whether it's just age or hopefully a little more experience--I'm seeing the world in a different light.
Wonkam Chungji said in the 13th century: "Sitting before the silent, burning incense I watch the moss thicken on the stone bridge. Don't ask me why. I've been out of step with the world since my youth."
Out of step with the world.
I did not grow up in the Christian tradition that sang "This world is not my home," but I have been with southern churches long enough to have heard the reverberations. And while there are plenty of days when I know that this world is, in fact, my home (at least for now), I am developing a deeper appreciation for the sentiment as time goes by. What would the world look like if we recaptured a philosophy of temporality?
First John 2:17 reads, "The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever."
Out of step with the world.
I look around as I ride all over Houston. Funny. I don't see the world and its desires passing away. I see the world and its desires growing. Lust for more things. New houses. Faster cars. Updated cell phones that play movies and julienne fries. Perhaps the contemporary proclamation of the gospel is going to have to find ways to articulate a shrinking dependence upon worldly gadgets, maybe even in favor of a more ascetic approach to expressions of our faith in Jesus. In some ways, I wish I had not started this summer preaching series. John is too easy to understand. Ambiguity in Christianity is more comfortable. We can get away with more if we say, "Well, we're not sure what that means." Not so much with statements like the one in 1 John 2:6--"Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did."
Out of step with the world.
The spiritual motorcycle approaches the main intersection and slows down. Stops at the light. The road we've been on thus far is called "The World and Its Desires"... the crossroad is called, "Live As Jesus Did." Do we make the turn? It would be easier to just keep going. I do notice that there's a lot less traffic at the crossroads.
