By Rachel Chew
Can we ever measure passion or put a finger on what passion looks or sounds like?
They say that if you’re not loud, you’re probably dead. They say that if you’re not giving your loudest shout, you’re not passionate. They say our King deserves it. Our King also, most probably, deserves a lot more things. Yet we find people who have either left or changed churches because of it. Some get disappointed and confused. They’re left speechless, literally.
We hear from friends coming back from a megachurch in a neighbouring (almost) country. We’ve heard it from the pulpit, even lead worshippers (the worship leader is ultimately the Holy Spirit); if it’s loud, bright, and can be seen and heard from a mile away, it’s definitely passion.
What’s that? I can’t hear you. Oh, you’re probably not passionate or *cough* Christian.
Extreme? Maybe. Out of context? Possibly. But haven’t we felt more ’alive’ when everyone sings their heart out and give their all in worship? Haven’t we felt as though we wanted to grow up and be just like them?
We talk about passion and equate it with how much time we do ‘quiet time’ or how many praise and worship songs we know. Lifting our hands at the right climaxes, clapping in beat and jumping all describe a ‘passionate’ person. It’s all rage and hype. Stepping out of our comfort zone means leaving our seats/pews and going upfront to um, rave… or whatever you call it. While we debate over worship styles and congregation enthusiasm in their responses, people’s needs are still not met and the poor are still poor.
True, passion starts with the individual, but it doesn’t have to end there. True passion always flows out, not clogging up within the four walls of ‘church’. Jesus was (and is) passionate. In fact, the word ‘passion’ came from the Latin word passi?, referring to the sufferings of Jesus or a martyr. He gave passion meaning. Today, being that passionate would be masochism. And no, black leather and whips will never be popular within ’churchy’ circles and neither was that what Jesus meant.
Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt 16:24). He calls us to passion, not merely to a passionate worship service, but to a life that follows after Him. It is a life that is uncomfortable, one that shakes us from our little boats and into the water. It means laying down our rights (to a home, money, fame or getting even) and picking up our cross. It’s a divine exchange of your life for His. And it happens daily.
Passion is not passive. Unfortunately, while we are passionate about the idea of passion, Jesus was (and is) passionate because He is compassionate*. We talk about following Jesus, but most of the time, we only follow Him to church and after service, we follow our stomachs. Jesus’ mission on earth was to the oppressed, poor, blind and the prisoners. God is always near the widows and fatherless. We can either take it metaphorically or literally—or better, both. There was a trend back in the 90s when the Christian subculture was famous for the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) bracelets, way before the current silicon bracelet fad. Catchy phrase, but if we really want to take it further, we should be asking what is Jesus doing and where is Jesus now. The present tense makes more sense because He is already here and all we need to do is join Him.
So where is Jesus? Where is He working? You say you have passion, live it. Leave the warm pews and go somewhere your butt will freeze because you have just given your coat to a beggar. Some may say you should start with the ‘small’ things first, i.e. taking out the trash in church or arranging seats before service, but truthfully, do we all think that God sees these acts as small? If all sin is sin to God, then all ’noble’ acts are equal because it is the Christian way of life. A life of love requires some form of self-giving and no service is smaller or more noble than another. Start with something immediate, do something you’d least likely do; whether it’s cleaning up your colleagues used cups and dishes or arming yourself with plastic bags to clean up your town. (Yes, we pay taxes for a reason. But it’s easier for us to give money than time and effort.)
Living selflessly is not easy, neither is it comfortable or ’natural’ in the worldly sense, but it is Christ’s passion, isn’t it? Having nails driven into His body was definitely not comfortable. Worship styles don’t even begin to describe it. Let’s not just talk about passion, let’s live a passion-filled life. Don’t just preach the gospel, be the gospel—the good news—to the poor, the oppressed and the needy. We’re the Church, the body of Christ, not a building. Jesus is all about the people and we should be too. If Jesus never changed His mission, why should we? It’s time we take the backseat, put the needs of others first and break down the walls that separate us from ’them’.
If it’s comfortable, it’s not passion.
*Compassion comes from the Late Latin word, compati; com (together) + pati (to suffer). Look up ‘passion’.
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