“Where are you?” This is the first question asked of man by God, found in Genesis 3. It’s a powerfully searching question for every man, woman, child. It’s also the beginning of spirituality.
In thinking through my own spirituality, I find that I’m deeply tempted to use spirituality to fill something deep within. The key word there is “fill”. Reading the account of the woman at the well recently has given me something to think about. She attempts to showcase a personal spirituality before this rabbi by talking about the center of religion in terms of physical location. As it was in the garden, so it is with the Samaritan woman – spirituality is not essentially about specifics of locality. It is about “withness” with God, or covenant relationship with God. Starting with anything else may lead us to a vacant mountain top experience.
Authentic spirituality admits that we’re not necessarily going to be fixed in this lifetime. But it maintains the faithfulness of God come to us in Jesus who entered into our darkness and confusion. And this God doesn’t demand that we get it together for ourselves.
Instead, he leads us to worship.
We are, consequently, left to consider that an encounter with Jesus will not change our circumstances as much as lead us to worship in the midst of them, whatever they may be. Don’t get him wrong – he comes so that we change. Our circumstances may stay the same. But we change. And hope springs from within where things cannot be stolen.
