"Somewhat lacking" is sort of a compliment...

To be dead is to be devoid of life, of vibrancy, of sensation. It is to no longer feel or change or develop. That is to be dead.

Many of my friends, are embarking on new seasons of their lives right now as school is starting and summer is ending. I am included as I prepare for my final semester of college. When seasons change in our lives, there are often disturbances. These can be either good or bad, depending on how we receive them.

I was talking to one of these friends recently about our spiritual lives. “Where are you on your faith journey?” I asked him as we caught up on the last few weeks of transition from summer. He proceeded to tell me that he is continually being challenged and challenging himself in his spiritual practices. He told me how he was embracing more of Jesus’ message about justice and social change, things about which he is exceptionally passionate.

But then he mentioned that someone in his life, someone who should be some sort of spiritual leader, had easily dismissed my friend’s spiritual life as “somewhat lacking.” The implication was that my friend’s spiritual life was dead. I know both of these men, and I would put forth that it is not my friend’s spiritual life that is in its death throws.

Lately I have heard too many Evangelical “spiritual leaders” cast doubt on the faith journeys I claim along with many of my friends as well. It is because we question things. We doubt things. We are affirming of other viewpoints. Most importantly, we are all able to explain why we have each gotten to where we are. We believe in social justice and its affirmation in scripture. Some do not take the Bible literally at every turn, believing that it is subject to the prejudices of its writers. Some have a more pluralistic view of religion in the world, affirming the rights of Jews, Muslims, and others to worship in their own ways. Some struggle with the very existence of God.

And these people are oft considered to be spiritually dead. I must fervently disagree. These people have vibrant spiritual lives, even if they do no fit the mold of what an Evangelical spiritual life should be.

One of my earliest forays into the world of broader Christian thought centered on the writings of Donald Miller, who I will actually get to meet in less than a week’s time. In his most recognizable work, Blue Like Jazz, Miller writes at the end of his chapter entitled “Belief” something that I believe is central to the way my friends and I approach our own beliefs: “[We] are learning not to be passionate about empty things, but to cultivate passion for justice, grace, truth, and communicate the idea that Jesus likes people and even loves them.” We’re caught up in Jesus’ life more so than Jesus’ death. We’re captivated by Jesus’ proclamation to love our neighbors as our selves while focusing less on the “go and baptize” end of things. And that freaks people out sometimes.

It’s important to know that we’re not comfortable. We’re extremely uncomfortable. It is the tension of our confessions that make our faith journeys vibrant. Every day is a struggle to reconcile ourselves to our views of the world. Each day leads to new discoveries about who we are as we immerse ourselves in the greater culture of our own individual social locations. We live out the message of the God of Christianity through each other, tugging at our innermost selves to share our fears and hopes with one another. This is unnerving to people who have never had a willingness to share their doubts and fears. We do it because we grow through it.

This is why we stand up and speak out when we encounter people who are racist. It is why we confront homophobia. We stand in solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters when they are denied the right to worship freely. After all, we all belong to a bundle of life. We are all members of creationkind. So we choose to live through each other, daily working out our faith. And while some days the work is harder than on others, our work is never completely fruitless. We recognize this in each other, and we share this struggle.