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Sunday Dispatch #188

Is there a spirituality for the rest of us who are not secluded in a monastery, who don't have it all together and probably never will?

The answer is yes!

What landed Jesus on the cross was the preposterous idea that common, ordinary, broken, screwed-up people could be godly. What drove Jesus' enemies crazy were his criticisms of
the "perfect" religious people and his acceptance of the imperfect nonreligious people. The shocking implication of Jesus' ministry is that anyone can be spiritual.

Scandalous? Maybe.

Maybe truth is scandalous. Maybe the scandal is that all of us are in some condition of not-togetherness, even those of us who are trying to be godly. Maybe we're all a mess, not only sinful messy but inconsistent messy, up-and-down messy, in-and-out messy, now-I-believe-now-I-don't messy, I-get-it-now-I-don't-get-it-now messy, I-understand-uh-now-I-don't-understand messy..

I admit, messy spirituality sounds...well...unspiritual.

Surely there are gudelines to follow, principles to live by, maps to show us where to go, and secrets we can uncover to find spirituality that is clean and tidy.

I'm afraid not.

Spirituality is not a formula; it is not a test. It is a relationship. Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection. The way of the spiritual life begins where we are now in the mess of our lives.

Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the beginning of 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.

Spiriuality is not about being fixed; it is about God's being present in the mess of our unfixedness.

~From messy spirituality by michael yaconelli