Indifference

When it comes to passionately embracing our calling as Christians, indifference is the devil’s tool. Whether we call it apathy, lack of interest, or boredom, ‘indifference’ saps energy and sucks life out of the mission of the church. And yet, when asked to identify the root causes of a passionless spirituality, church members have given responses that point to indifference.

It is as if there is an ecclesiastical take on the popular book and movie, He’s just not that into you. In the case of the church, it would be, “We’re just not that into Him.” Why should we get excited about church when church is just one item clamoring for attention in our lives? There are a myriad of demands on our lives that at any given time trump church: the kids’ soccer game, for instance, or staying up the night before and just wanting to sleep in on a Sunday morning.

Something else more troubling gnaws at our insides: the dissonance between belief and action. I’m not talking about sin. I am readily aware that the community of faith called church has always been an amalgam of saints and sinners and whether inside or outside of its purview, sin abounds. I have been and continue to be one who falls short of the glory of God. I refer to a deeper discord where our everyday actions are indistinguishable from those who do not profess faith. We are not out there enough getting our hands and feet dirty dealing with the pain of our communities. We are not out there loving the marginalized or touching the lepers or dining with the ones least likely to get an invitation to our next party.

And what is particularly troublesome: the inability to be honest enough with ourselves and with our brothers and sisters in the faith to engage in serious conversation about it.

To not discuss matters of passion around the faith we profess is to fall into the devil’s hands, it is to allow indifference to win. And, it is killing the church as we know it. Younger people looking from the outside in at the inauthenticity of passionless spirituality move on to the other side of the street. We’re dismissed. No amount of programs or marketing will overcome the chasm we have built.

Jesus said, “Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37b NRSV). Jesus will sustain us even in the moments when energies wane. All we need do is come to him in our brokenness and vulnerability. Can we begin such a conversation with him and with our brothers and sisters to address the issue of passionless spirituality?